( Spanish) — A federal judge in Argentina issued arrest warrants to Interpol on Tuesday against four Lebanese citizens for their alleged participation in the attack against the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA), in 1994.
The arrest warrant, shared this Wednesday by the court of Judge Daniel Eduardo Rafecas to , explains that three of the four men probably reside in Paraguay or Brazil —or have or have had residence and documents issued in those countries—, and that their detention has been requested for them to testify, because “in principle they would have collaborated with the actions carried out to achieve the attack”.
“About these people, there are well-founded suspicions that they are collaborators or operational agents of (…) Hezbollah’s armed wing,” the document sent to Interpol added.
Hezbollah is considered by the United States to be an Islamic extremist group and is included in its list of terrorist organizations.
The AMIA told on Wednesday that its president was traveling out of the country and that “for now we will not comment on the order that was made known.”
The attack against the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association was a terrorist attack with a car bomb that occurred in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, which left 85 dead and some 300 injured.
The investigation into the attack has followed a bumpy path and has at times been at the center of political and judicial disputes in Argentina, especially around accusations that the Iranian state may have been responsible for actions attributed to Hezbollah.
Iran has denied any responsibility for the act, although in 2006 the Argentine courts requested the capture of various Iranian officials for their alleged connection with the organization of the attack. In 2013, during the second presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina and Iran signed a memorandum to carry out a joint investigation of the episode in Iran, an agreement by which the then president and her government officials were accused of treason against the homeland. something that she and her collaborators always rejected until the case was dismissed by Judge Rafecas himself and an appeals chamber. The agreement with Iran was declared unconstitutional by the Argentine courts and never entered into force.
Agustín Milic contributed to this report.
