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Iran prosecutor demands arrest of Argentinian officials |
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Sunday, 12 November 2006 |
 TEHRAN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - A top Iranian prosecutor demanded an arrest warrant be issued for Argentinian judges and prosecutors, state radio said, after Argentina demanded the arrest of Iranian officials over the bombing of a Jewish centre.
The United States branded Iran and Hezbollah a "global nexus of terrorism" on Saturday and applauded the Argentinian court for seeking the arrest of the Iranian officials in connection with the 1994 bombing which killed 85 people.
Iranian Prosecutor-General Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi wrote to hardline Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortezavi and asked him to issue arrest warrants for former Argentinian judge Juan Jose Galeano who was previously in charge of the case, the current prosecutor and other legal officials, the radio said.
"Despite Galeano being sentenced for taking money and creating a fake case against Iranian officials and after it became clear that Zionist circles paid him ... unfortunately the Argentinian prosecutor has made baseless claims against Iran," state radio quoted Dorri-Najafabadi as saying in his letter.
Galeano was removed from the case in 2003 for corruption.
Dorri-Najafabadi said he wanted Galeano and others involved in the case arrested because "making propaganda against Iran is a crime".
Iran said on Saturday the Argentinian arrest warrant was part of a Zionist, U.S. plot against Iran.
Argentinian federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral on Thursday ordered a warrant for the arrest of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and eight others on charges of masterminding the July 18, 1994 attack.
A truck laden with explosives levelled the seven-storey Argentinian Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) building, a symbol of the country's Jewish community -- Latin America's largest. Eighty-five people were killed and more than 200 wounded.
Tehran denies any involvement. |
