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Clearly, Reyat's Guilt Wasn't Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

By IAN MCANDREWS
Letter to the editor.

The Globe and Mail, Penticton, B.C., Feb. 12, 2003

"The results of yesterday morning's on-line poll question (In The Air-India Case, Did Inderjit Singh Reyat's Punishment Fit The Crime?) were no surprise to me. I expect that the punishment doesn't 'fit the crime' for most people because they associate Mr. Reyat with the murder of the passengers on the 1985 Air-India flight. However it is clear that he is not responsible for that crime, or the Crown could not prove it."
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"Either way the standard for a criminal conviction in Canada has always been proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Canadians must base criminal convictions and sentencing on the facts as provable. If you believe that Mr. Reyat was directly involved in the Air-India bombing then the punishment doesn't fit the crime. However, it appears that the hard facts are that he was not. To engage in speculation in any one case is to invite it in all cases."
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