TORONTO: Inderjit Singh Reyat, the lone man convicted in the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing that killed 329 people, mostly Indians, on Friday appealed against his perjury conviction in Canada's worst case of terrorism, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

Reyat was handed a nine-year prison sentence last year for lying repeatedly at the 2003 trial of two men charged with mass murder and conspiracy.

He was a Crown witness at the trial of Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were acquitted in the biggest case of aviation terrorism before the 9-11 attacks in the United States.
 
His testimony was part of a deal that saw him plead guilty to manslaughter in the deaths of 329 people aboard Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985, said the local news agency.

Reyat had already served a 10-year sentence for the same-day deaths of two Tokyo baggage handlers who were killed when a bomb-laden suitcase meant for another Air India plane exploded prematurely.
 
The Air India flight 182 operating on the Montreal-London-Delhi route was blown up by a bomb at an altitude of 31,000 feet, and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while in Irish airspace.



- Bernama