Argentine judge issues in absentia trial of former Islamic Republic officials
An Argentine judge has ordered the trial in absentia of former Islamic Republic officials accused in the AMIA case.
Argentine judge Daniel Rafekas on Thursday ordered the trial in absentia of ten people accused of the deadly bombing and attack on a Jewish community center. He made the decision based on a law passed in March last year that allows long-term fugitives to be tried in absentia.
The terrorist attack, which took place in 1994, involved a truck bomb detonating near the AMIA Jewish Center building in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and injuring about 300.
Ten people were announced as perpetrators of the attack on the Israeli-Argentine Joint Engine (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, including former Iranian government officials and members of the armed group Hezbollah. Ali Fallahian, former Iranian Minister of Intelligence, Ali Akbar Velayati, former Foreign Minister, Mohsen Rezaei, former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Hadi Soleimanpour, former ambassador to Argentina, Ahmad Reza Asghari, former third secretary of the Islamic Republic's embassy in Argentina, Mohsen Rabbani, former cultural advisor of the Islamic Republic, Ahmad Vahidi, then commander of the Quds Force, and some of the then staff of the Islamic Republic's embassy are among the defendants in this case. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former President of the Republic of Iran, and Imad Mughniyeh, commander of the special operations headquarters of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, were also among the other defendants in this case, who are no longer alive.
The Argentine judiciary has declared the aforementioned defendants, as well as other defendants of Lebanese and Colombian nationality who were involved in the attack, as fugitives since 2003. The judiciary has also stated that the attack was carried out by the Lebanese Hezbollah with the support of the Iranian government.
Despite the existence of abundant evidence and a definitive conviction in the Argentine courts, the Iranian government has consistently denied its involvement in the attack and has refused to hand over the defendants to this court.
