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The men wanted by Argentina. Top row, left to right: Ali Akbar Heshemi Bahramie Rafsanjani, Ali Fallahijan, Ali Akbar Velayati, Mohsen Rezai. Bottom row, left to right: Imad Moughnieh, Mohsen Rabbani, Ahmad Reza Asghari, (also known as Mohsen Randjbaran), Ahmad Vahidi. Picture from the Argentinean Attorney General’s Website. International extradition warrants were not issued by Interpol for Ali Rafsanjani (top left) and Ali Velayati (top third from left), most probably out of political considerations.
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1. Interpol’s Executive Committee 2 decided to issue a Red Notice 3 for one senior Hezbollah operative and five senior Iranians. The six are suspected of involvement in the July 18, 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Building (AMIA) in Argentinan, which killed 85 individuals and wounded several hundred. 4
The ruins of the AMIA building
2. The six for whom the warrants were issued are:
A. Imad Moughnieh , Hassan Nasrallah’s military deputy and head of Hezbollah’s External Security Service. He is an internationally notorious terrorist who was responsible for many terrorist attacks against Western, Israeli and Jewish targets in Lebanon and in other countries, and is wanted by the United States .
Haj Imad Fayiz Moughnieh (Al-Nahar, February 17, 2002)
B. Mohsen Rabbani, Iranian cultural attach� in Buenos Aires at the time of the attack
C. Ahmad Reza Asghari (also known as Mohsen Randjbaran ), third secretary of the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires at the time of the attack
D. Ahmad Vahidi, formerly commander of the Qods Force and today acting minister of defense.
E. Mohsen Rezai, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, 5 formerly and currently secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council.
F. Ali Fallahijan, formerly Iran ‘s minister of intelligence and security, today advisor to Khamenei.
3. On November 10, 2006 the Argentinean Attorney General issued international arrest warrants for the Iran ‘s former president, Ali Rafsanjani, and eight additional men who were involved in the bombing of the AMIA building, on the charge of crimes against humanity . Two weeks later Argentina asked Interpol to issue warrants for the nine ( eight of whom are Iranian ). Interpol’s Executive Council reported that after weighing various written and oral testimonies presented in Argentina and Iran , it had decided to adopt the summation of the report prepared by Interpol’s legal department regarding issuing international arrest warrants for five Iranians and one Hezbollah operatives who had been involved in the attack.
4. The warrants will go into effect on March 31, 2007, unless Argentina or Iran (or any other country) files an appeal and expresses opposition. If an appeal is filed the issue will be transferred to in Interpol’s General Assembly for deliberation ( November 2007) . Interpol did not issue international extradition warrants for former Iranian president Ali Rafsanjani , former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati or former Iranian ambassador to Argentina, Hadi Suleimanpour , who were all included in the Argentinean request for extradition, in our opinion out of political considerations. 6
5. Iran denies any involvement in the attack, and has criticized both the investigation conducted in Argentina and Interpol’s Executive Committee decision resulting from it. Iranian spokesmen have said that Interpol’s decision is unacceptable and that the issuing of warrants is a violation of Interpol’s constitution. Iranian sources described the decision as �a Zionist plot� intended to deflect international attention from the �crimes Israel commits against women and children in Palestine .� Nevertheless, Iran has not yet filed an official appeal with Interpol regarding the decision.
