The Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed outrage that among the candidates approved by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to stand in the upcoming Iranian Presidential elections, are two implicated in the Buenos Aires AMIA Jewish Center bombing (July 18, 1994), which killed 85 people and injured hundreds.
Mohsen Rezai and Ali Akbar Velayati, both accused by Argentine Prosecutor Alberto Nisman of complicity in the atrocity will run in the June 14 election. This follows current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s approval of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Argentina and Iran’s Foreign Ministers for a so-called “Truth Commission” to review Nisman’s judicial inquiries.
The Memorandum had been approved by the Argentine Parliament, while its Iranian counterpart tellingly delayed its consideration, leading Ahmadinejad to “approve” it without Parliamentary support.
“The choice of two presidential candidates implicated in the greatest diaspora pogrom since the Holocaust defines a continuation of Iranian anti-Semitic and nuclear policy. The Argentine-Iranian accord is now rendered irrelevant, indeed, it is a farce and we urge Argentine Foreign Minister, Héctor Timerman, to annul it forthwith,” argued Dr. Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
“As it is clear that Iran has no interest in transparency and true cooperation, we call for speeding up judicial procedures against the accused and those responsible for almost two decades of cover up. There can be no pretexts for further delays,” added Sergio Widder, SWC Latin American Director.
“Iran’s announcement of two Presidential candidacies charged as accessories to the Jewish Community Center blast are a mockery of the memory of the victims and of Argentina,” concluded the Center’s officials.