VANCOUVER: As his seven month B.C. Supreme Court trial drew to a close last week Inderjit Singh Reyat spotted a familiar face in the courtroom
Suddenly a big smile flashed across his bearded face and he gave a thumbs-up sign perhaps betraying optimism that his years of court appearances might finally see him freed
The blue-turbaned former Duncan resident has been in custody for the 38 months since his arrest in Coventry England on terrorism charges.
It is the third time he’s had to defend himself against allegations he helped build a bomb that killed two people at Tokyo’s Narita airport.
The 37-year-old electrician is charged with two counts of manslaughter and five explosives offences out of the Narita blast June 23-1985.
Baggage handlers Hideo Asano and Hideharo Koda were killed when a bomb exploded in luggage they were transferring from a CP Air flight originating in Vancouver to an Air-India jet.
And implicit in the charges is the suspicion that Reyat was involved in the bombing the same day of an Air-India plane that went down off the coas of Ireland killing all 327 aboard.
Sentencing is likely this week.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 26, 1991
