AMIA victims' family members hold pictures of their
slain relatives at a
demonstration in
Buenos Aires.
Iran Accused of Using 'Latin American Spy Network' in Argentina
Bombing (Clarin, Argentina)
"The government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected findings of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who charges that for decades, Iran has been assembling a intelligence network in Latin America, and that this penetration is connected to the 1994 attack on a Jewish center that left 85 dead. According to Iran's Foreign Ministry, the charges reflect the 'Zionist character' of the prosecutor."
Prosecutor Alberto Nisman, responsible for the investigation into the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires. His finding that Iran was behind the attack that resulted in 85 deaths has been dismissed by Tehran as the views of a man with 'Zionist character.'
The prosecutor
in the AMIA bombing case accuses Tehran of assembling
an intelligence network in Latin America which collaborated on the attack.
In
a brief statement released this afternoon, the government of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad rejected findings of Argentine Israelite
Mutual Association prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who
charges that for decades, Iran has been assembling a terrorist network in Latin
America, and that this penetration is connected to the 1994 attack on a Jewish center
that left 85 dead. According to a source at the Persian country's ministry of
foreign affairs, the charges reflect the "Zionist character" of the
prosecutor.
"Knowing
the history of the prosecutor, we assign little importance to his assertions,"
said the source, paraphrasing Iran's official news agency, IRNA.
The
news item fromIRNA,
however, says nothing about the notification from Argentina's government that
Ahmadinejad expects to receive weeks from now, which will put into effect a
memorandum of understanding on the AMIA case supported by [President] Cristina Kirchner.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
[Editor's
Note: The memorandum of understanding between Iran and Argentina on
the AMIA case would set up a "truth
Commission" to investigate the case, but significantly, would bypass Argentina’s
criminal justice system, allowing any perpetrators identified by Alberto Nisman's investigation to evade justice under Argentine law].
Approved
in record time in February by the Argentina Congress, it was signed on January
27 - but the Iranians took their time. Iran's legislative assembly never took
it up, so the Iranian president decided to put it into effect by decree.
In
the interim, particularly last week, Nisman gave his finding
on the subject, which seeks to reaffirm Iranian responsibility for the AMIA bombing. The prosecutor said that Iran had established
"intelligence stations" in, among others, its embassies in
"Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago,
and Suriname.
Nisman is quoted as saying, "I legally accuse Iran of infiltrating several South American countries to install intelligence stations - in other words espionage bases - destined to commit, encourage and sponsor terrorist attacks like the one against AMIA."
The
AMIA bombing, to the prosecutor, was part of the
"gears" of "penetration" in the region, and that all of his
charges are corroborated by "instructions imparted by Tehran."
Nisman's thesis largely coincides with a resolution
issued by the U.S. Congress last December, which asked the State Department to
report on Iranian penetration of Latin America no later than June.
Recently
in its report on global terrorism, the U.S.
Department of State again underscored that had noticed a "marked
change" in Cristina Kirchner's policy toward Iran, while commenting on how
bilateral cooperation between Argentina and the United States had declined.
So
for the moment, the Argentine government has not responded to Nisman, and instead has gone to Interpol to seek backing
for its bilateral agreement.
