ARGENTINA: Argentine prosecutor asks for the arrests of ex-Iranian president and other high-ranking officials for the bombing of a Jewish cultural center in 1994

An Argentine prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires called for the arrest of the ex-president of Iran and several other government officials on Wednesday (October 25). In a press conference in Buenos Aires, Prosecutor Alberto Nisman affirmed that the top-ranks of the Iranian government gave orders to Hizbollah militants to carry out the bombing. "We have proven that the decision for the July 18, 1994 attack against AMIA that caused 85 deaths and wounded at least 151 was a decision taken by high-ranking authorities of Iran's government at that time. These authorities ordered the Lebanon's Shiite organization Hizbollah to execute this attack. It is known that this organization is, from all points of view, a sub-organization of the regime in Tehran," Nisman said. Nisman indicated that the two most responsible for the attack were Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, the president of Iran from 1987 to 1997, and Ali Fallahijana, the ex-Security and Information Minister. Also on the list of those Nisman wants arrested are several officials of the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires. The judge presiding over the case must now decide whether to order the international arrest warrants. The prosecutor said his team had also figured put their finger on the principal motive of the attacks, citing Argentina's unilateral decision to stop supplying nuclear technology and materials to the Iranian government. "We can also prove and expose the motive of the attack on Argentina and more exactly on AMIA- there were in fact a series of events that led to the carrying out of the attack. There is a pivotal motivating factor - a factor we explain in the report - that was Argentina's decision to cut the contracts for providing nuclear technology and arms to the Islamic republic of Iran. First the contract was suspended and then it was cancelled," Nisman told members of the press. Nisman's and a team of officials have been investigating the case for the last year and a half and in November of last year identified a Hizbollah militant as responsible for carrying out the attack. It was first time Argentine authorities had identified the suspected perpetrator of the attack that killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. Argentine, Israeli, and U.S. officials have long blamed the bombing on Hizbollah guerrillas backed by Iran. Tehran has denied the charge. Nisman said the man was identified as Ibrahim Hussein Berro and Argentine authorities determined his identity with help from U.S. investigators. Despite a lengthy probe, no one has been convicted for the attack, a fact that many in the Jewish community decried at this year's ceremony to remember the victims of the attacks. In September 2004, five former police officers, who had been accused of supplying the vehicle used in the bombing, were acquitted. The attack was one of two targeting Argentina's Jewish community during the 1990s. A March 1992 blast at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires killed 29 people, a case that remains unresolved. Argentina is home to Latin America's largest Jewish community and the seventh largest in the world.

ITN Source | October 26, 2006

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