Parole Denied for Bomber of Air India Jet
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KINGSTON, Ontario — The only man ever convicted in the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people must spend another two years in prison, Canada’s National Parole Board decided Friday.
Inderjit Singh Reyat’s claims that he is no longer the “young and naive” terrorist who helped to orchestrate the worst mass killing in Canadian history didn’t ring true for the three-member parole board panel, said lead member Michael Crowley.
Reyat pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced in February 2003 to five years in prison after agreeing to testify against the other key suspects. He has served two-thirds of his sentence.
Air India Flight 182 from Montreal to London, originating in Vancouver, exploded and crashed off Ireland on June 23, 1985. An hour earlier, a bomb in baggage intended for another Air India flight exploded in the Tokyo airport, killing two baggage handlers.
Reyat has already served a 10-year sentence for manslaughter related to the Tokyo bombing.
He testified in the murder and conspiracy trial of two other Indian-born Sikhs, who were acquitted after the judge dismissed Reyat as “an unmitigated liar.”
Reyat was charged with perjury in the case last month. If convicted, he faces a maximum of another 14 years in prison.
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