Kanishka trial verdict on March 16

The judgement will be passed on two Canadian Sikhs, a Vancouver businessman Malik and a mill worker.

The verdict in the 1985 Air-India bombing trial will be delivered on Wednesday, 20 years after the ill-fated Kanishka flight crashed off the Irish coast killing all 329 on board.

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The judgement will be passed by Justice Ian Bruce Josephson in a blast-resistant courtroom on two Canadian Sikhs, millionaire Vancouver businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik, 57, and Kamloops mill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri, 55.

This will be to a close one of the most exhaustive and expensive trials in Canadian history and the deadliest single act of terror before the September 11 strikes.

The two accused will learn their fate on eight charges of murder and conspiracy, watched by dozens of relatives of the victims who have travelled from across the world to Vancouver to see the verdict being delivered, which follows a three-month recess in the international terrorism trial.

Malik and Bagri are accused of conspiring to plant suitcase bombs on two aircraft.