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2 Interpol's decision time on
'Iranian' bombing By Kaveh L
Afrasiabi
This week, Interpol's general
assembly is meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, to
consider Iranian lobbying against "red notices"
being issued against five prominent Iranian
nationals, including former president Hashemi
Rafsanjani, requested by Argentina for their
alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish
community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85
people.
Interpol, the international police
agency, issues "red notices"
when
a person is wanted for extradition. It is the
equivalent of being on a wanted list; in this case
Argentina wants to issue arrest warrants.
Yet close scrutiny of the case put forward
by the Argentine prosecutor against Iran reveals
serious contradictions, flaws and overt signs of
external influences, warranting Interpol's
rejection of Argentina's request.
At a
delicate time in the US-Iran standoff over both
Iraq and Tehran's nuclear program, and with Israel
and the US seeking to isolate Iran and put maximum
external pressure on the country, Interpol's
decision bears heavily on the combined anti-Iran
diplomacy of Washington and Tel Aviv.
That
is why US officials, as well as ardent pro-Israel
members of the US Congress, have spared no efforts
in pressuring Interpol to reject Iran's appeal at
the three-day meeting that began on Monday.
According to Miguel Bronfman, an Argentine
lawyer privy to a recent US delegation to Buenos
Aires, "The Americans clearly want to accuse
Iran." So much is clear in a letter to Interpol
written by Democrat Congressman Tom Lantos and
Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
urging Interpol to issue the red notices for the
five Iranians and one Lebanese sought by
Argentina. Both of these Congress members are on
record as being enthusiastic sponsors of various
anti-Iran initiatives in the US legislature.
Alberto Nisman, Argentina's lead
prosecutor in the case, has told the press, "We
are going to Morocco with our truth and we are
going to explain why these persons are being
sought, as simple as that."
But the
political intention behind the red notices could
be to embarrass Iran and to undermine its role and
influence in the international community.
Rafsanjani holds key positions in the Islamic
Republic today, including chairmanship of powerful
clerical body, the Assembly of Experts. Former
foreign minister Ali Akbar Valayti, also on the
list, is a co-chair of a powerful council on
Iran's foreign relations. Others wanted include
former Iranian intelligence chief Ali Fallahian
and the former leader of the elite Iranian
Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohsen Rezaei.
Doubts over Argentina's case The
case presented against Iran to Interpol has
weaknesses. Consider the following:
This is the third time Argentina has sought
red notices against high-ranking Iranian
nationals, although the list is gradually getting
shorter, from 12 to eight and now to five. In
October 2004, Interpol's executive committee
ordered the cancelation of red notices, a decision
subsequently confirmed and adopted by the
organization's general assembly in September 2005,
which directed the general secretariat to cancel
the suspended red notices and clearly stated: "It
is not necessary for the matter to be further
referred to the general assembly."
Yet, under political pressure at home and
abroad, the Argentine judiciary, lambasted by its
own Supreme Court for a shoddy investigation rife
with tampering with and fabricating evidence, has
ignored Interpol's constitution and sought to have
the notices reissued. Article 3 of Interpol's
constitution provides that it is strictly
forbidden for the organization to undertake any
intervention or activities of a political
character.
From the point of view of international law
and various articles of Interpol's constitution,
consideration of any case already closed by a
competent authority may not be resumed, unless new
substantial facts, documents or evidence are found
. Yet the only thing new about Argentina's case is
the face of the prosecutor, who has yet to offer
any additional evidence that would corroborate
their allegations against Iran. Argentine
prosecutors allege Iranian officials orchestrated
the bombing.
This lack of new evidence is
confirmed in a recent interview with former
prosecutor Jose Galeano, admitting that the
warrants against the Iranians are "based on the
same investigations" done at the time he was in
charge of this case. Legally then, in the absence
of even new "circumstantial evidence" implicating
Iran in
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