Argentine President Cristina Kirchner
Argentine President Cristina KirchnerReuters

Argentine prosecutors launched a new appeal Tuesday of a court's decision to dismiss their case against President Cristina Kirchner for allegedly protecting Iranian officials accused of orchestrating a deadly 1994 bombing on a Jewish center.

Prosecutors are seeking to relaunch the case that was being brought by their late colleague Alberto Nisman, who died mysteriously on January 18 after accusing Kirchner of shielding high-ranking Iranians he showed as having ordered the attack on a Buenos Aires Jewish center.

Prosecutor German Moldes filed an appeal to bring the case before the next highest appeals court,  which would be the third court to consider the case.

The accusations first came before Judge Daniel Rafecas, who claimed in a scathing ruling on February 26 that no crime was committed, saying the prosecution's own evidence "roundly refutes" its case.

The decision was upheld by the Federal Chamber last week in a 2-1 ruling.

Moldes called that decision "notably hasty" in his appeal. If the latest appeal is rejected, prosecutors can take the case to a higher court or ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

The bombing at the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association killed 85 people and wounded 300.

Nisman had unearthed how Iran ordered the attack via its Lebanese proxy terrorist group Hezbollah.

Four days before his death, he filed a report accusing Kirchner, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and other figures close to the government of protecting Iranian officials, including former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in exchange for oil and trade benefits.

Nisman was found dead in his Buenos Aires apartment of a gunshot wound to the head on the eve of congressional hearings where he was due to present his allegations.