Kirchner Calls on Iran to turn over Fugitives
Buenos Aires—Addressing the U.N. the day before yesterday, Argentine President Nestor Kirchner called on “all of the nations of the world” to intervene on Argentina’s behalf and allow the questioning of some Iranian government officials about their alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires which left 85 dead and 300 wounded.
Furthermore, Kirchner requested that Iran respect Argentine legal jurisdiction in the matter and comply with months-old international arrest warrants—as yet to be issued by Interpol--for the six Iranians and one Lebanese citizen.
“We are asking that (Iran) collaborate in the application of international legal norms to help arrive at the truth. Nothing more and nothing less,” Kirchner said.
Mohsen Baharvand, Iran’s chief diplomat in Argentina, told Clarin newspaper in an interview a week before the U.N. summit that “It is possible that if President Kirchner accuses Iran (of the AMIA bombing), many countries will interpret Argentina as being for war (against Iran).”
In another part of his final speech to the U.N. as president, Kirchner blasted the UK’s “obstinate reluctance” to formally discuss the on-going issue of Falkland Islands sovereignty.
Amidst rumors emanating from the Guardian newspaper that the UK may seek to expand its claims of coastal territories in the South Atlantic in an effort to “annex potentially lucrative gas, mineral and oil fields,” Kirchner called the Falklands situation “illegal.”
“It’s time the United Kingdom puts an end to the anachronism of retaining an occupation dating back to colonial times,” he said.
Tags: Iran , Terrorists , AMIA , Bombing
