Rocketry Planet

OTTAWA, Ontario CAN — The first police photograph of the alleged crime scene is unremarkable and void of any obvious signs of an international terrorism conspiracy.

Displayed on a dozen monitors around courtroom No. 37 on Monday, it shows the tidy, unfinished basement at 672 Princess Louise Dr. on March 29, 2004 - the day RCMP officers armed to the teeth swooped in and raided the Ottawa family home of accused terrorist Momin Khawaja.

Khawaja has pleaded not guilty to seven terrorism charges relating to the foiled 2004 plan to bomb targets in and around London, England. He is alleged to have built a prototype remote control device that would transmit a radio signal to the bombs' detonators

There is a ping-pong table at one end of the room, two matching floral-patterned couches, an old floor-cabinet TV, exercise bike, three mismatching chairs at three mismatching desks, a garish area rug strewn across the concrete floor and two lamps.

At the other end, behind a curtain divider, is Khawaja's small, sparse bedroom, with a computer and desk, about 50 books, some shirts and jackets hanging from a metal clothing rack and his bed. A large and largely empty pegboard covers much of one wall, home to a Nike swoosh symbol, the word "Linux" and two typed documents, one in Arabic.

Unlike many other alleged crime scenes, there is no look of hurried abandonment, just a mundane scene of a suburban rec room.

Over the coming days, Crown attorney David McKercher will attempt to fit together the bits and pieces of physical evidence discovered there and elsewhere in the house into a convincing pictorial showing Khawaja was making radiowave devices to transmit detonation signals to high explosives intended to kill countless people in London, England in the name of Islam.

Defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon will fight to tear apart McKercher's work.

RCMP Cpl. Taro Tan, formerly of the RCMP A Division Integrated National Security Enforcement team that raided the home, began this new phase of the Khawaja trial Monday with a three-hour photographic evidentiary tour of the house.

Some of the evidence included:

1. An instruction manual, "Iguana Labs Microcontroller Beginner Kit," sits on a desk in Khawaja's room.
2. Another manual, "How to Make Amateur Rockets," is nearby.
3. An schematic showing the electronic design of a Bi-directional 2.4 GHz (gigahertz) amplifier hangs on the second-floor bedroom wall of Khawaja's older brother, Qasim.
4. A thick stack of $100 bills found under Qasim's mattress. Mckercher tells court it amounts to $10,300.
5. Two wooden crates packed with powerful 7.62-millimeter ammunition. In all, police found 640 rounds around the house, said McKercher.
6. A shooting target hanging on a basement wall near the ping-pong table. The target, in the shape of a human head-and-shoulders, has about a dozen bullet holes to the head. The surrounding drywall has many more.
7. A gun case containing two, semi-automatic, 7.62mm assault rifles, one with a scope.
8. Another gun case containing another assault rifle, this one with an extendible bayonet. Court was told all three guns were properly licensed by Khawaja.
9. Thirteen books in Khawaja room. Titles included: The U.S. Special Forces Physical Conditioning Program "Get Tough"; CIA Special Weapons and Equipment; The Religious and Moral Doctrines of Jihad; Join The Caravan; Decisive Battles of Islam.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

Copyright © 2008, Ottawa Citizen.