Reyat’s release offends justice

Generally, decisions about imprisonment made by courts or parole boards deserve our respect. The process includes important safeguards, and those involved have the opportunity to review all the evidence, rather than leap to conclusions based on news summaries.

But the decision to release Inderjit Singh Reyat into the community offends the principles of justice and fails to reflect Canadians’ horror at his role in Canada’s worst mass murder and his calculated effort to subvert justice.

Reyat, then a Duncan electrician and mechanic, was complicit in terrorist attacks on two Air India flights from Vancouver in 1985. One bomb exploded as passengers’ luggage was being transferred at Japan’s Narita Airport, killing two baggage handlers.

The second ripped apart Air India Flight 182, a jumbo jet carrying 307 passengers and 22 crew. They fell nine kilometres into the North Atlantic off the coast of Ireland.

Reyat and other conspirators were extremists dedicated to creating a Sikh homeland in the Punjab.

The bungled investigation stretched almost two decades. Reyat was eventually convicted of manslaughter in the Narita explosion. He had built the bomb.

Prosecutors and investigators still hoped to bring Reyat and two other men to trial in the Flight 182 attack, but feared they lacked the evidence.

So they made a deal with Reyat, who was claiming remorse. He would be allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter in return for truthful testimony against the two men investigators believed were the ringleaders. He was sentenced to just five years for his part in 329 deaths.

But when it came to fulfil the bargain and testify, Reyat was an “unmitigated liar” who withheld critical evidence, the judge said. “If he harboured even the slightest degree of genuine remorse, he would have been more forthcoming.” Without his testimony, the two were found not guilty.

Reyat’s lies led to a perjury conviction and a nine-year sentence. They also denied the families of victims and all Canadians a chance to see justice done.

And now Reyat, who has been living in a halfway house, is to be released after less than six and a half years and allowed to move where he pleases. There are conditions — no political activities, see a counsellor, “not to possess any components that could be used to build an explosive device.”

Ordinarily, it’s right to release inmates who have served two-thirds of their terms and are not a risk. It saves money, speeds their reintegration into society and provides an incentive for positive behaviour in jail.

But Reyat is not an ordinary inmate. He was a terrorist, whose crime resulted in the deaths of 331 innocent people with no connection to his cause. And in duping prosecutors and lying in court he attacked and undermined the Canadian justice system.

Inmates are routinely denied release if they don’t show remorse.

The parole-board decision notes Reyat complied with conditions at the halfway house. His overall risk of reoffending is low, but it warns him — and us — “if there were a threat to your Sikh cause, your risk for futurebased group violence is high.” It doesn’t mention remorse. At this point, words from Reyat couldn’t be believed by the victims’ families or anyone else. He has claimed remorse and lied before.

Real remorse would be shown by finally telling the truth. Telling what happened, who was involved, in Canada and abroad. Giving answers to questions that have haunted families, and answers that could help prevent some future attack.

Until Reyat had done that, he should not have been granted early release.