CHARGES AGAINST ARGENTINEAN JUDGE INNOCENTS IRAN

TEHRAN 5 Oct. (IPS) The Islamic Republic on Sunday said it would not accept any mediation in its crisis with Argentine, following allegations that the Argentinean Judge that has accused Iran of having masterminded the 1994 explosion of the Buenos Aires Jewish Centre has coerced witnesses to accuse Tehran.

The explosion killed 85 people and wounded more than 300 hundreds.

Following an international warrant from Judge Juan Jose Galeano, Scotland Yard arrested last August Mr. Hadi Soleymanpour, Iran´s ambassador to Argentine at the time of explosion, in the northern city of Durham, where he is studying international politics at the city’s prestigious university.

Mr. Soleymanpour was released two weeks later on a record 750.000 British Pounds bail, with the London Court awaiting “more convincing documents” on the participation of the diplomat and other senior Iranian officials, including the former Intelligence minister, Hojjatoleslam Ali Fallahian in the explosion.

According to new press reports, Judge Galeano has paid 400.000 US Dollars to a key witness, the driver who took the explosives provided by the terrorists to AMIA, or the Centre for Jewish Solidarity, stopping however short of explaining where he got the relatively huge sum.

Other former Argentinean intelligence officers have also accused Mr. Galeano for having coerced them in accusing the Islamic Republic, the reports added.

“The accusations against Galeano shows that the whole issue is baseless and a political manipulation, as we have stated from the outset”, the official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Sunday the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s senior spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as having stated.

Angry at the arrest of its diplomat, Tehran recalled briefly its ambassador form London and cut the remaining trade and cultural ties with Buenos Aires.

“Now, everyone can see by itself that not only we had nothing to do with the explosion, but also how the Argentinean Judiciary played in the hands of the Zionist entity (Israel) in making fabricated accusations agains the Islamic Republic”, Mr. Asefi told IRNA, adding that Iran would accept no mediation aimed at normalising Iran´s relations with Buenos Aires unless Argentine presents full and official apology.

The charges against Judge Galeano are in line with those made against Mr. Carlos Menem, the former president, accused by the press of having accepted a 10 million US Dollars bribes from the Iranians for shelving the case that was re-opened recently by the present Argentine President. ENDS DIPLOMAT ARRESTED 51003