ARGENTINA/FILE: Argentine prosecutor says Iran infiltrated South America to carry out terrorist attacks

Record ID: 447417

  • Title: ARGENTINA/FILE: Argentine prosecutor says Iran infiltrated South America to carry out terrorist attacks
  • Date: 29th May 2013
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE - 1994) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RESCUE EFFORTS AFTER THE 1994 BOMBING AT A JEWISH CENTRE
  • Embargoed: 13th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAL8BUAAY55JICC0LWT0QSENEC
  • Story Text: An Argentine prosecutor accused Iran on Wednesday (May 29) of establishing networks to carry out terrorist attacks in Latin America since the 1980s, adding he will send his findings to courts in the affected countries so they can take action.
    State prosecutor Alberto Nisman is investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.
    Argentine courts have long accused Iran of sponsoring the attack.
    Iran, which remains locked in a stand-off with world powers over its disputed nuclear program, denies links to the blast.
    No one was immediately available to comment at the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.
    In a 500-page-long document, Nisman cited what he said was evidence of Iran's "intelligence and terrorist network" in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname - among others.
    "There is the risk that this infiltration, dating to 1983, has also happened in other countries. We have evidence that this may be the case because similar steps were taken as to what happened in the attack at the AMIA [Jewish centre] and with the failed attempt at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy [airport in New York City]. So what we do is send these elements to the judicial powers of the respective countries so that they have it and they can determine if this really did happen at the time or not. Because of international treaties, to which Argentina is a part, I find myself obligated to let these countries know this,"
    Nisman said new evidence underscored the responsibility of Mohsen Rabbani, the former Iranian cultural attache in Argentina, as mastermind of the AMIA bombing and "coordinator of the Iranian infiltration of South America, especially in Guyana."
    He said U.S. court documents showed Islamist militant Abdul Kadir - who was sentenced to life in prison in 2010 for participating in a foiled plan to attack John F. Kennedy airport in New York - was Rabbani's disciple.
    In February, Argentina's Congress approved an agreement with Iran to set up a "truth commission" to shed light on the AMIA bombing after years of legal deadlock.
    But many Argentine Jewish community leaders feared the pact could undermine the ongoing judicial investigation, led by Nisman.
    Nisman denied the pact would interfere with his investigation.
    "Not in any way. This is a judicial issue which has moved forward. I've always said the memorandum doesn't interfere at all with the legal case which continues to move forward. In fact, we've advanced and the memorandum has taken a separate path, which is political one and this is strictly judicial. What we've done here is hand down a decision that has been made on the record, a court decision which was presented to a judge. Additionally, this decision, with the conclusions we have arrived to, were sent to the different judicial powers of the countries that we believe need to have them. Therefore it is something completely judicial. I don't see what effect it can have. It [the agreement with Iran] can continue as is," he said.
    In the case of the AMIA centre bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina has secured Interpol arrest warrants for nine men - eight Iranians and one person presumed to be Lebanese.
    Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi is among the officials sought by Argentina, which is home to Latin America's largest Jewish community.
    Another Iranian with an outstanding arrest warrant against him is Mohsen Rezaie, a former head of the Revolutionary Guards who is running for president.
    Nisman urged Interpol to intensify its efforts to execute the arrest warrants.
    Centre-left President Cristina Fernandez has close ties with other Latin American leaders who are on good terms with Tehran, such as Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, successor to the late president Hugo Chavez.
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