Final Arguments to begin in Air India bombing Trial
Pakistan Times Wire Service

VANCOUVER (Canada): Lawyers were set to begin crucial final arguments Tuesday in the case of two Sikh immigrants from India accused of the 1985 mid-air bombing of an Air India plane which left 329 people dead.

Closing arguments were expected to start with the defence of Ripudaman Singh Malik, a millionaire businessman in Vancouver. Lawyers for rural mill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri then were to present their defence, followed by the prosecution team.

Backdrop

The men, Sikhs who immigrated to Canada from India's northern state of Punjab, are each charged with eight counts of murder and conspiracy in what was the world's worst airborne terrorist act before September 11, 2001.

On June 23, 1985, a suitcase exploded at Japan's Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers as they transferred it to Air India Flight 301 for Bangkok and Delhi.

Less than an hour later, off the coast of Ireland, a second bomb ripped through Air India Flight 182 as it flew to London from Montreal. All 329 people on board died.

Hijackings of US Jets

Though separated by long years and thousands of miles, both the 2001 hijackings of four US jets, two of which crashed into New York's World Trade Center, and the 1985 Air India bombings, were allegedly carried out by fundamentalists bent on revenge against a foreign government.

Prosecutors contend Malik and Bagri, with others, planted bombs on Air India jets to punish the Indian government for its 1983 army attack on Sikhdom's most holy place, the Golden Temple at Amritsar. At the time, Sikh separatists were fighting for an independent homeland in India's Punjab.

By the time Justice Ian Bruce Josephson of the British Columbia Supreme Court renders a decision on Malik and Bagri, the Air India case will be nearly 20 years old.

The Verdict

The verdict is unlikely to be the final chapter in the bombings case, however, because police continue to investigate other suspects.

Since the trial began in April 2003, Canadian prosecutors have constructed a complex case against the pair, based on witness testimony, police interviews, phone records and surveillance.

Of the Court

The trial is being held in a 7.5 million Canadian dollar (5.6 million US) bunker-like, bomb-proof, bullet-resistant court built especially for this case.

The court also designated as a remote annex a vast warehouse in a secret location. Within it is a skeleton of a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, named the Kanishka by Air India.

Parts of the plane were hauled from the bed of the Atlantic Ocean, shipped to Canada and reconstructed by police.

Prosecutors' Plea

Prosecutors say Sikh extremists in Canada built two suitcase bombs, bought airline tickets and checked the suitcase bombs onto Vancouver flights connecting with Air India.

A third man, Inderjit Singh Reyat, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a conviction in the Narita explosion, and was also charged with Bagri and Malik.

In 2003, Reyat pleaded guilty to manslaughter for supplying bomb materials and received a five-year sentence.

Both prosecution cases hinge partly on women who were allegedly close to Malik and Bagri.

The Woman Witnesses

The first woman to testify once worked for Malik and says the pair were in love. She told the court Malik once confided to her, "We had Air India crash." Malik's lawyers are expected to reiterate arguments that the woman's testimony is not credible.

The second woman alleged that Bagri asked to borrow her car about the time the suitcase bombs were delivered to the airport.

The identity of both women, as with many other witnesses in the case, is shielded under a publication ban. Two potential witnesses in the case, both Sikh journalists, were assassinated. Other witnesses allege they have received threats.●