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Last update - 21:13 09/11/2006 Argentine judge orders arrest of former Iranian pres. over 1994 attack By The Associated Press BUENOS AIRES - A federal judge on Thursday ordered the detention of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and eight others in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed 85 people, the judge's office said. A special prosecutor sought the order, alleging that the worst terrorist attack ever on Argentine soil was orchestrated by leaders of the Iranian government and entrusted to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah. Iran's leading diplomatic envoy in Buenos Aires, speaking with The Associated Press by telephone, said his government would oppose any efforts to detain Rafsanjani or other Iranian nationals. Advertisement Mohsen Baharvand, Iran's charge d'affaires here, called the case politically motivated. An official in the office of Federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral who spoke with AP on condition of not being identified by name said the judge was seeking the detention of Rafsanjani and eight others. The official said details would be released later. The July 1994 bombing of the Jewish cultural center here killed 85 people and injured more than 200 others. Investigators say an explosives-packed van was driven up to the building and detonated. Iran's government has vehemently denied any involvement in the attack following repeated accusations by the Jewish community and other leaders here. Baharvand called the effort a "huge propaganda" campaign against his country, adding Iran was "a scapegoat for the shortcomings of the countries that are not able to find the real perpetrators of this act." "These are baseless allegations against my country," he added. Two special prosecutors on October 25 urged Canicoba Corral to seek international and national arrest orders for Rafsanjani, who was Iran's president between 1989 and 1997 and is now the head of the Expediency Council, which mediates between parliament and the clerics in ruling the country. Alberto Nisman, the lead prosecutor, said last month that the decision to attack the center "was undertaken in 1993 by the highest authorities" of the Iranian government at the time, and that the actual attack was entrusted to Hezbollah. Nisman also asked Canicoba Corral to detain several other former Iranian officials, including former intelligence chief Ali Fallahijan, former foreign minister Ali Ar Velayati, two former commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, two former Iranian diplomats and a former Hezbollah security chief for external affairs. A botched investigation into the case by judge Juan Jose Galeano was halted in 2004 by federal courts and a special investigation unit was created. Galeano was removed from the case and later stripped of his judgeship. Nisman announced in November 2005 that investigators believed a 21-year-old Lebanese Hezbollah militant had been identified as the suicide bomber. The attack on the seven-story Jewish center, symbol of a Jewish population numbering more than 200,000, was the second of two attacks targeting Jews in Argentina during the 1990s. A March 1992 blast destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people in a case that has also been blamed on Hezbollah. Some speculated the bombing was inspired by Argentina's support for the U.S.-led coalition that expelled Iraq from Kuwait during the Gulf War in the early 1990s. Others said Argentina's Jewish community, one of the largest in Latin America, represented an obvious target for Israel's opponents. Although Jewish community leaders and others have suspected the involvement of Middle East terrorists, a lack of progress in tracking down the masterminds has made families of the victims increasingly bitter. In 2004, about a dozen former police officers and an accused trafficker in stolen vehicles were acquitted of charges that they had formed a "local connection" in the bombing Bookmark to del.icio.us   Smoking kills Tehran slams McCain for saying cigarettes could be used to kill Iranians. Case of deja vu Olmert and his office chief Shula Zaken were accused of similar charges back in 1991.   1.   More than that! 21:27  |  Cristina 09/11/06   2.   arrest of former Iranian pres. 21:36  |  Jozef 09/11/06   3.   the continuous agression against Iran 21:41  |  Leon Rosgarten 09/11/06   4.   Who cares 21:57  |  Humanitarian 09/11/06   5.   Well done , Rosgarten, Well done! 22:08  |  Jake 09/11/06   6.   To Leon #3 22:14  |  Gabriel 09/11/06   7.   #3 Brainless Comments 22:27  |  Luis Fischman 09/11/06   8.   Answerback to Leon 22:31  |  Dennis 09/11/06   9.   Iran Is Hell Bent On The Nuke 22:47  |  Joseph E . 09/11/06   10.   Leon is a Moron 22:55  |  DJ 09/11/06   11.   #3 Pathetic... 23:18  |  Michael 09/11/06   12.   Holocaust Prelude 23:27  |  Bimmer 09/11/06   13.   TERROR AND ITS LONG BRANCHES 23:37  |  SAM EL JUDIO 09/11/06   14.   AMIA was in 1994 00:00  |  Cristina 10/11/06   15.   BRAVO LEON 00:12  |  Justice 10/11/06   16.   self-defence 00:15  |  justice 10/11/06   17.   mossad must get them 00:25  |  arlen 10/11/06   18.   #3 Who are you, Rosgarten? Are you a.k.a. Ahmadinejad? 00:34  |  Vittorio 10/11/06   19.   Leon,despair not,Israeli peaceniks and "Haaretz" hate Zionism 00:46  |  Absolute Sweden 10/11/06   20.   Justice-justice`. Are you "IRANIAN JUSTICE" ? 01:14  |  Vittorio 10/11/06   21.   Cristina, had the Argentine fed judge included in his order ... 01:16  |  nimrod 10/11/06   22.   About time 01:55  |  Argentine 10/11/06   23.   Hold Lebanon responsible as well 02:00  |  Dave 10/11/06   24.   Dave from Toronto has got a valid point... 06:23  |  zayyin ba ayin 10/11/06   25.   looking for tal and luis fischman 23:31  |  di 12/07/08

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