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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Khatami Refuses to Meet Argentine President Until Buenos Aires Formally Apologizes For AMIA Scan |
| 2004-04-29 |
| CARACAS, Venezuela (Mehr News Agency)4-29-04 –- Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has refused to meet Argentine President Nestor Kirchner on the sidelines of the G15 meeting in Caracas, saying he would not meet him until Buenos Aires formally apologized to Tehran for falsely charging Iranian diplomats with involvement in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, a source said. Khatami also asked Argentina to make efforts to completely clear the reputations of the Iranian diplomats and to make up for the damage it has caused Iran in the international arena, an informed source who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Tehran Times. The Argentine president had wanted to hold talks with Khatami on the expansion of bilateral ties. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosted a summit of the G15 group of developing nations on Friday and Saturday in Caracas. The G15 actually has 19 members: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. Hadi Soleimanpur, Iran’s former ambassador to Argentina, was detained August 21 in northern England, where he was studying at a local university on a student visa. His arrest was a result of a warrant issued by Argentine judge Juan Jose Galeano, who had been investigating the 1994 attack on the AMIA center for the past ten years. The car bomb that exploded at the AMIA community center killed 85 people and injured hundreds. Judge Galeano issued arrest warrants for a dozen Iranians. He even ordered that an arrest warrant be issued for any Iranian who had visited Argentina since the time of the blast. The former diplomat was released on bail and the Argentine judge was given two months to present evidence against him, a move which proved a scandal for the Argentine judicial system. Soleimanpur’s name was mentioned in the case from the beginning of the investigation, although Judge Galeano was not able to produce the least amount of incriminating evidence against him. Finally, the British court ruled that Argentina had not provided sufficient evidence to extradite Soleimanpur and ordered that he be released. In addition, an Argentine federal judge removed Galeano on December 3, after Argentine intelligence agents testified in a separate trial that Galeano had paid $400,000 in state money to Carlos Telleldin, a car dealer, in return for testimony in the case. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #3 From a New York Times article from way back: Former Argentine President Carlos Menem allegedly accepted a $10 million bribe to cover up Iran's responsibility for the attack. It looks like the Iranians spread enough money around to get the judge who went after the terrorists fired. The equivalent in the US would be an impeachment of GWB for alleging that al Qaeda was responsible for 9/11. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-04-30 12:06:12 AM |
| #2 I can't think of any reason why Argentina would want to strengthen bilateral ties with a rogue regime that has used diplomatic immunity to loose bombers from the Iranian embassy to attack Argentine civilians. Cut rate rug prices are just not worth it. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-29 8:30:33 PM |
| #1 Khatami also asked Argentina to make efforts to completely clear the reputations of the Iranian diplomats and to make up for the damage it has caused Iran in the international arena, an informed source who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Tehran Times. I suddenly have more respect for Argentina |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-04-29 4:29:14 PM |