Jews reject Argentina-Iran deal on bombing probe

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) ― The Argentine Jewish community protested vehemently on Monday after Argentina and Iran agreed to create a “truth commission” to probe the bombing of a Jewish center that killed 85 people.

Argentine prosecutors have accused Iranian officials of involvement in the 1994 bombing of the seven-story building that housed the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Association, a charities federation.

But on Sunday, President Cristina Kirchner announced a deal with Tehran to set up a probe by a commission composed of five independent jurists ― none of whom would be from Iran or Argentina.

She said the deal may allow Argentine authorities to finally question those for whom the global police agency Interpol has issued “red notices” urging member states to execute Argentine arrest warrants.

In 2006 Argentina demanded the extradition of eight Iranians, including current defense minister Ahmad Vahidi, former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati.

In a joint statement, Argentina’s two largest Jewish organizations, the AMIA and the Delegation of Argentine Jewish Associations, declared that the creation of a commission “would imply a decline in our sovereignty.”

“To ignore everything that the Argentine justice has done and to replace it with a commission ... is, without doubt, a reversal in the shared goal of obtaining justice,” the groups said.

The bombing was the deadliest attack of its kind in Argentina, which has the largest Jewish community in Latin America, numbering about 300,000 people.

A van loaded with explosives detonated outside the center in a densely populated commercial district of Buenos Aires, demolishing the building.

In addition to the 85 dead, hundreds more people were injured in the blast, which came two years after an attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people and wounded 200.

Buenos Aires has long accused Tehran of being behind both attacks, charges denied by the Islamic republic.

Israel also said it was extremely “disappointed” by Argentina’s agreement with Iran to create an independent truth commission.

“The Argentine authorities have pointed at Iran as the sponsor of the attack, and took the necessary steps with Interpol in accordance with their findings,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

“Now, this recent agreement raises severe questions: it establishes a committee whose recommendations are non-mandatory and it provides the country which all the evidence points at, namely Iran, with the capacity to delay indefinitely the committee’s works,” it warned.

“It is doubtful whether this is how justice will be rendered.”

The United States said its position was unchanged.

“We continue to stress that the Iranian government has a responsibility to cooperate fully with Argentine authorities in seeing the perpetrators are brought to justice,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

“We all obviously have all wanted to see the perpetrators brought to justice, so if the Argentine government thinks this might take us closer to that, then we’ll have to -- we’ll have to see.”

Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Salehi signed the agreement on Sunday in Addis Ababa on the sidelines of an African Union summit after several months of negotiations.

It must be ratified by lawmakers in both countries.

Timerman plans to meet relatives of the victims of the bombing, some of whom expressed dismay at the news.

Luis Czyzewski, whose daughter Paola died in the bombing, dubbed the deal “a monumental step backward” and Sergio Burstein, who heads an association of friends and relatives of victims, said: “It was a shock.”