Air India suspects seek freedom

Bodies of the 329 who died were pulled from the sea

A court in Canada has been hearing arguments over whether two Sikhs accused of involvement in one of the world's worst airline bombings should be freed on bail.

Ajaib Singh Bagir and Ripudaman Singh Malik are asking to be released from custody while they await trial.

The flight recorders were recovered from the Atlantic

They are accused of conspiracy in the bombing of an Air India flight in 1985. All 329 passengers and crew died when the plane, on a flight from Canada to India, crashed into the sea off the coast of Ireland.

Prosecution and defence lawyers have been addressing the British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver, but the hearing is subject to a strict reporting ban.

The judge has ordered journalists not to publish any of the arguments or evidence from the bail hearing, in case it influences the case when the men's full trial gets under way.

Legal observers predict the trial will be one of the longest and most complicated criminal cases in Canadian history.

Mr Malik, a wealthy Vancouver businessman, and Mr Bagri, a sawmill worker, appeared in court briefly during the bail hearing.

Pieces of wreckage were gathered by rescuers

Lawyers had originally hoped to complete the proceedings on Friday, but it will now continue after a Christmas break.

The two accused men, both in their 50s, were arrested in October by Royal Canadian Mounted Police after a 15-year investigation into the bombing.

They have been charged with eight offences, including involvement in the murder of two baggage handlers killed in a separate explosion in Japan.They deny the charges.

The plane, Flight 182, was destroyed on 23 June, 1985. Most of those who died were Canadians.

Canada blames the bombing on Sikh extremists responding to an Indian army assault in 1984 on the Golden Temple complex at Amritsar.