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Air India bomb maker released from prison by BC court

by julianw | July 9, 2008 at 12:51 pm

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Having spent two decades in jail for his role in the 1985 Air India bombings, Inderjit Singh Reyat has been released on bail by the British Columbia Court of Appeals.

The only man ever convicted in the Air India bombings will be a free man for the first time in more than two decades after the B.C. Court of Appeal granted him bail on perjury charges.

Inderjit Singh Reyat has served more than 20 years behind bars for two separate convictions related to the incident that claimed 331 lives in a blast off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985 and a same-day explosion at Narita airport in Japan.

Reyat served his entire sentence for those two convictions but he remained behind bars facing perjury charges for his testimony at the trial of two men accused of taking part in the plot.

His wife, Satnam, told The Canadian Press that "we are not sure which day" he would be released although it was likely Wednesday, once he completed the release paperwork.