Reyat's bail conditions will remain secret for at least a week

It is still not clear whether the bail conditions imposed on the only person convicted in the Air India bombing in 1985, Inderjit Singh Reyat, will be made public.

The B.C. Court of Appeal issued a memo on Thursday morning saying that if any media organization wants to obtain a copy of the court order, which contains the conditions, or the reasons for judgment, they will have to arrange a date for a hearing. 

The secrecy surrounding the bail conditions in the high profile case does not sit well with Mike Farnworth, the provincial NDP's public safety critic.

"The bail conditions needs to be made public. The public needs to know exactly what they are. All I know is that the attorney general should use all legal tools available to the Crown to ensure he remains behind bars," Farnworth said Wednesday.

Before the court makes a decision, it is expected to hear opinions from lawyers on both sides of the case on whether the public should be allowed to know what the bail conditions are.

On the Crown's side, special prosecutor Len Doust supported releasing the details, B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal told CBC News on Wednesday.

The conditions are strict, but they will be kept secret under a publication ban until the judge decides otherwise, Oppal said.

"I think it's safe to say they're about as strict as you can get, and I think the public should know that," Oppal said.

Although Reyat was granted bail Wednesday, it is believed he is still in custody while his relatives and friends arrange to post the bail.  

Reyat has already served more than 20 years in jail on two manslaughter convictions for his part in building the bombs that detonated aboard Air India Flight 182 and at Narita International Airport in Tokyo in 1985, killing 331 people in total.

He remained in custody while awaiting trial in January on perjury charges related to the trial of two other suspects in the case.

Meanwhile, Oppal said an appeal of Reyat's release is unlikely.

"Keep in mind that Reyat is charged with perjury and he's served his complete sentence … The public associates Reyat with the bombing itself … Right now he is facing a charge of perjury," Oppal explained.

Jason Kenney, the federal Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, issued a brief statement on Thursday expressing sympathy for families of the victims of the bombing

"My thoughts are with the families of Air India victims, who must now reconcile Mr. Reyat's new-found liberty with the immensity of their own loss," Kenny said.