Reyat’s third conviction could be last chapter in Air India saga

Vancouver: Convicted bomb maker Inderjit Singh Reyat didn’t flinch when he heard the word “guilty” in court Saturday, nor when a judge said he’d be held in custody pending a sentencing hearing for a perjury conviction.
Mr. Reyat, 58, has spent almost a quarter century in and out of prison, and in November he will likely learn he’ll be serving more time behind bars after two prior convictions related to the 1985 bombings.
His third conviction could be the last chapter in the Air India saga, a tragedy of unmatched proportions in Canadian history, but one with a most unsatisfactory ending because others believed to be involved in the disasters that killed 331 people have not been held responsible.

Mr. Reyat, a bespectacled Sikh who wears a turban and has a long greying beard, told court in 2003 that when a leader of a Sikh separatist group asked him to collect bomb-making materials in Vancouver in 1984, he agreed to do so “to help people in India.”
“I complied with Parmar’s request because I was very upset with the Indian government’s treatment of the Sikh people and I wanted to assist their cause in any way that I could,” he said in a February, 2003, affidavit for his second conviction.
That netted him a controversial five-year sentence for the bombing deaths of 329 people aboard Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985.
Mr. Reyat had already served a decade-long sentence for another bombing that day at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, where two baggage handlers died when a suitcase bomb meant for Bangkok-bound Air India Flight 301 exploded prematurely.
His lawyer, Ian Donaldson, said his client was merely a “soldier” who followed orders from a “general” when he agreed to collect bomb parts.
The Crown maintains the two bomb-laden suitcases originated at Vancouver’s airport as part of a plot against government-owned Air India by British Columbia-based Sikh extremists who felt the Indian government was oppressing Sikhs, a minority in their former homeland.
The Crown subpoenaed Mr. Reyat to testify in 2003 at the trial of Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik, who were charged with mass murder in the Air India bombings.
Mr. Malik and Mr. Bagri were acquitted, and Mr. Reyat was charged with perjury in 2006.
The Crown accused Mr. Reyat of lying 19 times to minimize his involvement in the bombings and to protect others who targeted Air India.
Mr. Sidhu said Mr. Reyat repeatedly made false statements at the trial because he feared retribution and despite others’ involvement in the plot, he is the only one who has been punished.
19/09/10 Camille Bains/The Canadian Press /The Globe & Mail

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Categories: Air India - International Sep 2010, Foreign Sep 2010, NACIL Sep 2010, Safety Sep 2010