Beijing, May 04: A Hong Kong court jailed for life a man found guilty of masterminding a firebomb attack on a karaoke bar in 1997 that killed 17 people.
Choi Kam-fai, 34, was convicted of murder on Monday with the judge saying he had played a prominent role in the petrol bombing that triggered a deadly blaze in the four-storey club, local media reported.
Prosecutors said Choi had wanted to exact revenge after a fight with club security left him injured.
Choi fled across the Hong Hong border with mainland China after the attack in the city’s Tsim Sha Tsui district and disappeared for more than a decade until his 2008 arrest by mainland police.
Four other people convicted of taking part in the attack have already been given sentences ranging from 11 years for manslaughter to life imprisonment for murder. Two other suspects remain at large.
—Agencies