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Argentina calls for arrest of top Iran officials |
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Friday, 10 November 2006 |
Iran Focus
London, Nov. 10 – A federal judge in Argentina has issued an international arrest warrant for senior Iranian officials, including former President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, for masterminding the 1994 deadly bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires.
Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral told AFP on Thursday he had asked the government of Iran as well as Interpol to hand over the former president on a warrant issued for "crimes against humanity" in the bombing attack on the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association.
"A close analysis at the request of the national prosecutor resulted in this (warrant)", he said.
On October 25, Argentine prosecutors charged Rafsanjani and seven other individuals with masterminding the attack which left 85 people dead and 300 others injured.
“We have proven that the decision to attack the AMIA headquarters on July 18, 1994 ... was a decision made by the highest authorities in Iran's government at the time”, Argentine chief prosecutor Alberto Nisman told reporters.
The federal judge called on Interpol to arrest the following individuals:
• Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian President, currently chairs Iran’s State Expediency Council and is deputy chair of the Assembly of Experts
• Hojatoleslam Ali Fallahian, former Iranian Minister of Intelligence and Security
• Ali Akbar Velayati, former Iranian Foreign Minister, currently the chief foreign policy advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
• Major General Mohsen Rezai, former Supreme Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), is currently the secretary of the State Expediency Council
• Major General Ahmad Vahidi, former Commander of the IRGC Qods Force, is currently Deputy Defence Minister
• Mohsen Rabbani, former cultural attaché at the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires
• Ahmad Reza Asgari, alias Mohsen Ranjbaran, former official (Third Secretary) at the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires
• Hadi Soleimanpour, Iran’s former ambassador to Buenos Aires
Argentine prosecutors also sought the arrest of Imad Fayez Mugniyeh, commander of the Shiite Lebanese group Hezbollah’s overseas operation. Mugniyeh is currently believed to be hiding in Iran.
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