Argentina judge requests arrest of Iran adviser for AMIA bombing

Former Iranian officials have been on an Interpol capture list for years, but Argentine prosecutors have never been able to question them. Iran has long denied any role in the bombing that killed 85 people.

An Argentine judge is requesting that Singapore and Malaysia arrest an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader who is accused of masterminding the South American country’s worst terrorist attack.

The AMIA bombing was an attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; Argentine Israelite Mutual Association) building. It occurred in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, killing 85 people and injuring hundreds. It was Argentina’s deadliest bombing ever. Argentina is home to a Jewish community of 230,000, the largest in Latin America and sixth in the world outside Israel.

Ali Akbar Velayati was foreign minister of Iran at the time of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires and is now an adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Velayati is visiting Southeast Asia to attend a regional summit.

Argentine Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his request seeks to reinforce existing arrest orders.

By: AP