BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — The Iranian government officially agreed to establish a “truth commission” with Argentina to jointly investigate the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center.
Ali Pakdaman, the business attache of Iran in Buenos Aires, said Monday that Iran formally accepted the pact, marking the final step in making it operational. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signed the agreement without a vote of his nation’s parliament.
In February, the Argentinian Congress approved the bill.
The process was launched with the signing of a memorandum of understanding on Jan. 27 by the foreign ministers of both countries.
AMIA and the national Jewish political umbrella group DAIA filed a joint petition last month with the Federal Administrative Court arguing that Argentina’s Congress acted unconstitutionally in voting for the memorandum of understanding.
Israel, the United States and international Jewish groups have objected to the bilateral pact.
“The idea of establishing a ‘truth’ commission on the AMIA tragedy that involves the Iranian regime would be like asking Nazi Germany to help establish the facts of Kristallnacht,” said American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris in a statement issued in late January. “It is offensive not only to the families of the 85 murdered and hundreds wounded, but to the entire Argentine nation, which for more than 18 years has sought justice.”
B’nai B’rith International President Allan Jacobs said in a statement, “Given Iran’s deplorable judicial track record and its refusal to turn over those previously implicated in the bombings, there’s little reason to believe anything substantial will come out of this commission.”
