Washington, DC — On February 12, 2003, SMART issued a press release on the 1985 Air India bombing case, which contained some factual errors. The following is an excerpt from the agreed statement of facts submitted in the British Columbia Supreme Court when Inderjit Singh Reyat pleaded guilty Feb. 10 to 329 counts of manslaughter in the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182: “In May and June 1985, in the province of British Columbia, Mr. Reyat acquired various materials for the purpose of aiding others in the making of the explosive devices. Although Mr. Reyat acquired materials for this purpose, he did not make or arm an explosive device, nor did he place an explosive device on an airplane, nor does he know who did or did not do so. At no time did Mr. Reyat intend by his actions to cause death to any person or believe that such consequences were likely to occur.” Our press release incorrectly stated that Mr. Inderjit Singh Reyat “admitted he assisted others in plotting the bombing of an Air India Boeing 747 over the Atlantic Ocean in June 1985.” We apologize to Mr. Reyat, his family, and to the Sikh community for this error. Our intention was to represent Sikh values to the broader public and convey to them that violence directed against innocent civilians are never permissible under our value system. We have since retracted the press release.
