Sat 29 Dec 2007, 01:44 GMT17

 

Interpol issues wanted notices for Iranians
07 Nov 2007 20:54:06 GMT
Source: Reuters

(Updates with reaction from Argentine officials, Lebanese nationality of one of the suspects)

By Tom Pfeiffer

MARRAKESH, Morocco, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Interpol issued wanted notices for five Iranians and one Lebanese national on Wednesday in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Argentina in which 85 people were killed.

Despite heavy diplomatic pressure from Iran, delegates at the world police body's annual general assembly in Morocco voted by 66 percent in favor of issuing the "Red Notices" seeking the extradition of the wanted people, delegates said.

Argentina last year issued international arrest warrants for former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, seven other Iranians, and a former leading figure in the Hezbollah guerrilla group on charges of masterminding the attack.

Interpol said in March it would issue its own wanted notices against six of the nine, leaving out Rafsanjani.

Iran has repeatedly denied any link to the bombing and says Interpol risks being dragged away from police work into the realm of politics. Tehran blames the United States and Israel for trying to implicate the Islamic Republic in the attack.

In a statement after the vote, Interpol President Jackie Selebi said Argentina and Iran had been treated fairly and impartially, but an Iranian official slammed the move.

"It is a political vote and not acceptable for us," an Iranian delegate who asked not to be named told Reuters.

"The testimony is not credible."

The delegate said Argentina had been told to produce new evidence to back up the arrest notices but had not done so.

WANTED NOTICES

The wanted notices were issued for Ali Fallahijan, Mohsen Rabbani, Ahmad Reza Asghari, Ahmad Vahidi, Mohsen Rezai and Imad Fayez Moughnieh, the ex-Hezbollah leader whom the Argentine Foreign Ministry and prosecutors' office identified as a Lebanese citizen.

Iran would review the situation and determine how to react, the delegate added.

Argentine officials welcomed the vote.

"This step confirms the international community's majority support for helping the Argentine justice system solve this terrible crime," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In Buenos Aires, the judge in charge of the bombing case said the decision was a success for Argentina, but acknowledged the Iranians could only be arrested if they left their country.

"I understand that the majority of them are in Iran and they will not be leaving Iran," federal judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral told local TV.

The cat-and-mouse diplomacy took another turn in August when an Iranian court sent Argentina a summons for five Argentines, accusing them of "actions against the security of the Islamic Republic."

Interpol, which was holding its annual general assembly in Marrakesh, Morocco, issued over 2,800 red notices last year.

The notices seek the arrest of a wanted person with a view to extradition but do not force a country to arrest suspects.

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner has urged the United Nations to help secure Iran's collaboration with the probe. (Additional reporting from Cesar Illiano in Buenos Aires; Editing by Stuart Grudgings)
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