Argentina Requests Singapore and Malaysia to Extradite Ali Akbar Velayati

On Wednesday, July 30, Argentina requested Singapore and Malaysia to extradite Ali Akbar Velayati, the international affairs advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to a judicial source reported by AFP, this request was issued by an investigative judge in relation to allegations against Velayati concerning his involvement in the bombing of the Jewish community center in Argentina. Velayati traveled to Singapore on Sunday, July 27, to participate in a two-day Asian migrants' conference and to give a speech at the event. According to Mehr News Agency, in addition to attending the conference, Velayati is scheduled to meet with Singaporean officials and then travel to Malaysia for discussions with officials there. Velayati, who was Iran's foreign minister at the time of the bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish community center, is accused of being involved in this bombing and is on Interpol's wanted list. The 1994 bombing at the seven-story AMIA building, the headquarters of Jewish activities in Argentina, resulted in 85 deaths and over 300 injuries. Besides Velayati, four other Iranian officials have also been accused of involvement in the bombing of the Jewish center in Argentina's capital. Among the other accused are Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Discernment Council, Ali Fallahian, and several officials from the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, all of whom have international arrest warrants issued against them. Investigations into this bombing have yet to yield results. Alberto Nisman, the judge investigating the bombing, was found dead under 'suspicious' circumstances about a year and a half ago. A year and a half after his death, senior judicial officials in Argentina suggested that Nisman may have been 'forced to commit suicide.' In the final weeks of his life, Nisman accused then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of colluding with the Iranian government to 'cover up' Iran's role in the bombing. Nisman wrote in his investigations that Kirchner had made commitments in agreement with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government to take actions aimed at diverting the investigation from its correct path. In response to this accusation, Kirchner emphasized that her government had no connection to Nman's murder. The Argentine Supreme Court also declared Kirchner's case 'closed' and exonerated her from this accusation. Kirchner's eight-year presidency ended eight months ago. Mauricio Macri, the president who won the December 2015 elections, annulled the agreement made between Kirchner's government and the Iranian government. According to this agreement, a 'joint truth commission' was to be established to interrogate those Iranian officials suspected of involvement in the AMIA bombing. Iranian officials have repeatedly denied any involvement in the AMIA explosion.