Kanishka bombmaker found guilty of perjury

Sep 19, 2010 |

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Toronto, Sept. 19: Inderjit Singh Reyat, the sole person convicted in the 1985 bombing of Air India's Kanishka flight that killed 329 people, has been found guilty of perjury by a Canadian court for lying under oath during the trial of the world's deadliest airline bombing.

Reyat, 58, who had earlier confessed to helping make the bomb that destroyed the Air India Flight 182, showed little emotion as the verdict was read in a Vancouver courtroom after jurors deliberated for more than 20 hours.

After he was convicted of perjury, with which he was charged in 2006, Reyat was ordered into custody, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The British Columbia Supreme Court jury found Reyat guilty of lying under oath during his testimony in the trial against his alleged co-conspirators in the plot -- Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik.

The maximum sentence for perjury is 14 years in prison.

Reyat's lawyer Ian Donaldson had argued that his client should remain out of custody to prepare for the two-day sentencing hearing November 17, saying that neither he nor the Crown had found a case of any Canadian convicted of perjury being detained pending sentencing.

Donaldson said Reyat had "complied impeccably" with his bail conditions since being released from custody in July 2008. "In two-plus years, there has been no suggestion or hint of any breach at all," he said.

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