Ethics Newsline®

Special to Newsline from Canadian correspondent Errol P. Mendes

VANCOUVER
Justice Ian Josephson of the British Columbia Supreme Court stunned Canadians last week by acquitting two alleged masterminds of the worst terrorist incident in Canadian history.

The judge found Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri not guilty of eight charges connected with plots to blow up two Air India airliners in 1985.

One of the Air India planes exploded when a suitcase bomb detonated over the Irish Sea, killing all 329 on board, including 80 children and 200 Canadians. Two Japanese baggage handlers were killed also in Narita Airport in Japan when baggage they had taken from an Air India plane exploded prematurely.

The judge ruled that he could not find the defendants guilty beyond a reasonable doubt even though the conspiracy to conduct the bombing took place in Canada, with both bombs originating in Vancouver.

While most families of the victims and most Canadians expected a guilty verdict after one of the longest trials in Canadian history — 233 trial days involving 115 witnesses and testimony based on events nearly two decades old — Justice Josephson insisted that the testimony of key Crown witnesses was contradictory and not credible and that the prosecution failed to prove the required criminal standard of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

However, the judge indicated that the result of the trial may have been different if there had not been “unacceptably negligent” destruction of wiretap evidence by the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) not long after the bombing had taken place.

Some commentators have started debates on the ethical behavior of CSIS in investigating the bombing conspiracy, and some family members of the victims have started questioning the decision of the judge.