ARGENTINA: Foreign Minister Hector Timerman says progress is being made in AMIA attack investigations

Record ID: 447213

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Foreign Minister Hector Timerman says progress is being made in AMIA attack investigations
  • Date: 26th December 2012
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) EXTERIOR OF IRANIAN EMBASSY IN BUENOS AIRES WITH IRANIAN FLAG VARIOUS OF OFFICIAL FROM EMBASSY LEAVING BUILDING CAR LEAVING EMBASSY WITH IRANIAN WOMAN IN BACK SEAT
  • Embargoed: 10th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACZMJM7VU4NYAMOQ15K3D5Y2WF
  • Story Text: Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman met with AMIA bombing victim family members and officials from the Jewish community on Wednesday (December 26) to discuss advances in the case against Iranian citizens wanted in the 1994 attack that killed 85 people and injured hundreds.
    Although no arrests have been made in Argentina's deadliest bombing to date, Timerman said that the quest for justice must continue.
    "We believe that we have done a lot in relation to this matter. To the point that we are the only country that has been able to get Interpol to issue Red Notices (international wanted persons alert) for some of the suspected citizens from the Islamic Republic of Iran. But things need to keep moving forward. We think this is a positive step in order to be able to give the court more elements so that they can arrive at a conclusion and a sentence - a ruling about what happened that day at the AMIA and those who were behind it," said Timerman.
    On the morning of July 18, 1994, a car bomb destroyed the AMIA headquarters, leaving 85 dead and 300 wounded. The deadliest terrorist attack ever in Argentina's history came just two years after the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that left 29 people dead.
    President Cristina Fernandez and her predecessors have maintained that the AMIA bombing was an attack on Argentina, not just on the country's Jewish community.
    In 2006, an official Argentine government report prepared by Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman identified Iranian and Hezbollah figures as responsible for the attack. INTERPOL issued red notices for the capture of six suspects, including Ahmed Vahidi, now Iran's Defense Minister.
    Olga Degtiar, a family member of one of the bombing victims, expressed her belief in that the government of Argentina was doing everything possible to bring those responsible for the attacks to justice.
    "We don't have any guarantee that the Iranian government will turn over the accused, but what we are sure about is that the (Argentine) government is doing everything possible to bring this to an end, and for us (victim family members) to be able to rest in peace by having the accused in the place where they belong," said Degtiar.
    Over the years the Iranian government has steadfastly denied any involvement in the bombing.
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