By 39-32 votes, Argentina's Senate on Thursday approved a memorandum of understanding with Iran to set up an international Truth Commission tasked with investigating the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires in which 85 people were killed. The agreement was widely rejected by Jewish organizations in Argentina and abroad, including the World Jewish Congress.
The two governments had signed the deal last month.
Argentina's judiciary has accused Iranian officials, including Iran’s current Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, of involvement in the bombing. Iran has denied the charges.
Following the Senate’s approval, the bill will now pass to the lower house, which is also controlled by government allies and could be voted as early as next week.
In 2007, Argentine authorities secured Interpol arrest warrants for five Iranians, including Vahidi, and one Lebanese citizen accused of helping plot the terrorist attack. Tehran has refused to turn the men over.
Opposition: 'Law of impunity'
The suspects cannot be convicted unless they are tried in Argentina, where no one else has been held responsible for the bombing. The government presented the agreement with Iran as the best way to make progress on a paralyzed case.
"We know this is difficult if there are hidden motives on the other side of the signing of this memorandum," Senator Daniel Filmus said during Thursday's debate, according to the ‘Reuters’ news agency. "If there's a lack of collaboration on the other side of the memorandum, the Argentine case ... will be strengthened because it will be even clearer who is guilty," he was quoted as saying.
Opposition Senator Maria Eugenia Estenssoro likened passage of the agreement to laws that shielded lower-level officials involved in Argentina's bloody 1976-1983 military regime from prosecution and pardoned convicted human rights abusers. "Once again [Congress] will be voting a law of impunity," she said.
Former Argentine President Carlos Menem, who is a member of the Senate and has been charged with helping to cover up the investigation during the 1990s, did not turn up for the debate and the vote.
The Argentinean-Iranian agreement stipulates that the Truth Commission - made up of five foreign legal experts - will issue a report after evaluating Argentina's investigation into the case. Argentine and Iranian judicial officials will then meet in Tehran to interrogate the people sought by Interpol.
Last week, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman denied that Iranian officials would be questioned over the bombing. Argentina's foreign minister said the Iranians sought in the case could refuse to cooperate, just like any other criminal suspects.
The human rights organization Amnesty International praised the agreement on Thursday, saying that "although it does not guarantee in any way the success of the investigation, it creates an opportunity to move forward towards justice and reparations for the victims."
President Cristina Fernandez had originally proposed that a trial be carried out in a neutral country.
World Jewish Congress and Latin American Jewish Congress opposed to deal
Earlier this month, in a joint statement, the presidents of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald S. Lauder, and the Latin American Jewish Congress, Jack Terpins, had urged Argentina not to ratify the agreement, stating that “Doing so would hand Iran a huge public relations victory.”
Lauder and Terpins said the memorandum of understanding with Iran undermined the efforts of the Argentine judiciary. The investigation had “clearly established that Iranian nationals conspired in masterminding the worst terrorist attack ever carried out in any South American nation. At the time Iranian leaders (including Vahidi), gave orders to kill as many civilians as possible.”
The two Jewish leaders called the agreement with Iran “an affront to justice” and added: “The Iranian government cannot be considered a neutral interlocutor in this affair because its leaders are involved in terrorist activities themselves.”
AMIA President Guillermo Borger said working with Iran would allow for another attack on the country’s Jewish community. Government officials, including President Cristina Kirchner and Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman, himself Jewish, said the deal was the only way to move forward with Iran, which has refused to turn over the suspects.
