TWO men accused of bombing an Air India flight in 1985, killing all 329 people on board, have pleaded not guilty at the start of their trial in a specially built courtroom. Ajaib Singh Bagri, 53, and Ripudaman Singh Malik, 56, sat behind bulletproof glass for the hearing in Vancouver, Canada, today. The trial comes almost 18 years after the Boeing 747 exploded off the coast of Ireland in the worst terrorist bombing of a commercial aircraft. Calling Bagri a "militant Sikh terrorist", prosecutor Robert Wright said the bombing was revenge by Sikh separatists for the 1984 raid by Indian forces on the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the religion's holiest site. "Their motive was so strongly felt that they were prepared to murder hundreds of innocent people," Wright said.
| Guess they got that "Dire Revenge™" thing from the Muslims... |
|