VANCOUVER BC: S Inderjit Singh Reyat was Friday’s convicted in the Narita airport and the Air India jet bombing of June 231985 on the basis of circumstantial evidence. Sentencing will be next month.
The Canadian authorities have spent $4.5 million and five years on the investigation but failed to come up with conclusive evidence linking Reyat and Talwinder Singh Parmar in the case.
Independent investigations by two senior Canadian journalists Zuhair Kashmeri and Brian Mc Andrew had found evidence of direct Indian Govt involvement in these cases just to bring Sikhs a bad name in the international community In fact the two wrote a book Soft Target on their findings. Soft Target was promptly banned by the Indian govt.
A lawyer for Reyat convicted of manslaughter in the “terrorist” bombing of Narita Airport near Tokyo says he expects the conviction to be appealed.
“The decision rests with my client but I’m certain there will be an appeal because his family and his friends will want one” said Vancouver lawyer David Gibbons.
Gibbons said he and associate Mark Hilford who did most of the courtroom work during the trial will review the reasons for judgment before deciding if there are grounds for an appeal.
Crown counsel James Jardine who prosecuted the case with Richard Caims and Gordon Matei said the matter is still before the courts until Reyat 39 is sentenced June 7.
The prosecutor would only say the conviction resulted from a team effort involving RCMP and Tokyo police backed by the “brilliant work” of Canadian and Japanese forensic scientists
B.C Supreme Court Justice Raymond Paris convicting Reyat of two counts of manslaughter and five explosives-related charges noted the Crown’s case was entirely circumstantial
He said the circumstances in such a case must enable the court to draw a “rational inference” of guilt. There must be no other “reasonable explanation” for the circumstances.
He said the evidence consisted of scientific findings linking Reyat to the bomb evidence he showed an interest in acquiring components of a bomb and evidence of motive.
Gian Singh Sandhu chairman of the World Sikh Organization said in a telephone interview from Wiliiams Lake B.C. that a royal commission is the only way to find the truth of what happened on June 231985
“If the judiciary feels Reyat is linked to this there has got tobe more” Mr.Sandhu said
Article extracted from this publication >> May 17, 1991
