Bloomberg: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner called on Iran to extradite five former officials to stand trial for a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured 150.
By Bill Faries and Eliana Raszewski
Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner called on Iran to extradite five former officials to stand trial for a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured 150.
Former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian, four other Iranians and one Lebanese member of Hezbollah are wanted by Argentina for the attack on the AMIA Jewish center. The bombing was the worst terrorist attack on a Jewish target outside Israel since World War II.
"I ask Iran to please allow Argentine justice to judge, in public and transparent trials with all the guarantees of a democratic system, those citizens who stand accused," Fernandez said during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
International police agency Interpol has called for the arrest of the suspects and placed them on a watch list. Iranian representatives to Interpol said in November that the suspects weren't involved in the bombing, the country's official news agency, Irna, reported.
Iran last year summoned five Argentine nationals to appear in court, including former Interior Minister Carlos Corach and Judge Juan Jose Galeano for orchestrating a "scenario to implicate Iran" in the bombing. Interpol isn't seeking the arrest or extradition of the five Argentines, according to its Web site.
The AMIA attack came two years after a car bomb exploded at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people. No one has been convicted in either attack.
Falkland Islands
Fernandez also reiterated an annual call for the United Kingdom to cede control over the Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the South Atlantic lying 480 kilometers (300 miles) off the coast of South America.
"It's time to end the embarrassment, in the 21st century, of this colonial enclave," Fernandez said, citing previous resolutions of support for negotiations from the UN General Assembly. "I call once again on the United Kingdom to fulfill its obligations under international law."
Argentina traces its ties to the Falklands to 1820 when Colonel David Jewett claimed possession of the islands in the name of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata. England assumed military control of the archipelago in 1833, evicting Argentine authorities the following year.
Argentina invaded the islands during a two-month war in 1982 that ended in defeat.
