Canada's supreme court has ruled that it will nothear a last-ditch appeal to quash terrorism charges against a man accused ofparticipating in and assisting an alleged terror ring based in Britain.

MominKhawaja, a Canadian citizen, is charged with conspiring with seven BritishMuslims to carry out bomb attacks in Britain.

He was seeking to haveall charges against him dropped on Thursday based on the law'sunconstitutionality.

As is typical inleave-to-appeal cases, the justices gave no reasons for their decision.

Khawaja'scase is the first being heard under new terrorism provisions of Canada'scriminal code.

Anti-TerrorismAct

He facesseven charges under new laws introduced as part of the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act.

Khawajahad argued that he had been targeted because of his Muslim religion, but whenthat part of the law's definition was struck down by the Ontariocourt, he said, the law had been gutted and that he should  be allowed togo free.       

Thegovernment had argued that Khawaja should follow the normal route of appeals inprovincial courts rather than seeking a shortcut to the federal supreme court. 

Freedomof expression

InOctober, a Canadian judge struck down a portion of the act that definesterrorism, saying it infringed on constitutional "freedoms of conscienceand religion; thought, belief, opinion and expression and of association".

Butinstead of releasing Khawaja, the judge granted the government a year toamend the act while allowing the prosecution for aiding a terrorist group andfacilitating terrorist activity to continue