Iranian Terrorists Travel Freely in Saudi Arabia

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By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
June 09, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - Seven months after Interpol placed a former head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards on its most-wanted list, the fugitive suspected of state-sponsored terrorism last week traveled freely to Saudi Arabia, where he attended a religious conference hosted by King Abdullah.

Mohsen Rezai, wanted by Argentina, is the subject of an Interpol "red notice" -- a request for a provisional arrest with a view to extradition, based on an arrest warrant or court decision. Saudi Arabia is a member state of the international policing organization.

It was unclear Monday whether he was still in Saudi Arabia, but his presence was brought to the attention of Interpol as well as the Argentine and Saudi governments late last week.

Rezai was part of a delegation led by former Iranian president, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, who shared the platform with the Saudi monarch during the gathering in Mecca.

The three-day conference, which drew considerable attention in the Islamic world, is aimed at fostering Muslim unity ahead of a dialogue Abdullah plans to launch with Christian and Jewish religious figures.

The attendance of Rafsanjani, a senior Shi'ite figure invited by the Sunni king and seated at Abdullah's left in a sign of unity between Islam's two major sects, was widely reported.

Virtually unreported, by contrast, was the participation of Rezai, although an Iranian state-funded media outlet mentioned in passing that he was accompanying the former president. Iran's Mehr news agency also posted pictures showing Rezai in Mecca with Rafsanjani.

Rezai is a top-level politician in Iran, a former presidential candidate and secretary of Iran's Expediency Council, a consultative body appointed by "supreme leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and headed by Rafsanjani.

For 16 years during the 1980s and 1990s, however, he was leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), having been appointed to the post by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini at the age of 27. The IRGC was last October subjected to U.S. sanctions for support of terrorism and proliferation activities.

In July 1994, in a rare case of a suicide bombing outside the Middle East, terrorists targeted a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and injuring several hundred others. Argentine investigators believe that both Rezai and Rafsanjani himself were key players in the deadly attack.

In 2006, special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, a presidential appointee, concluded after in-depth investigations that Iran masterminded the Argentine-Israel Mutual Association (AMIA) bombing and had tasked Hezbollah - a Lebanese-based Shi'ite group sponsored by Iran - to carry it out.

Buenos Aires issued arrest warrants for top-ranking Iranian suspects, including Rafsanjani, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and Iran's ambassador to Argentina at the time of the bombing, Hadi Soleimanpour.

Warrants also were issued for Rezai, former intelligence chief Ali Fallahijan, commander of an IRGC Quds Force special operations unit Ahmad Vahidi, and two officials based at Iran's embassy in Buenos Aires, Mohsen Rabbani and Ahmad Reza Asghari. Also wanted was a Lebanese national, Hezbollah terrorist chief Imad Mughniyah, who was killed in a bomb blast in Damascus in February.

In March last year, Interpol's executive committee agreed to an Argentine request to issue red notices for Rezai and four other Iranians, as well as Mughniyah. On legal advice, Interpol chose not to issue red notices for Rafsanjani, Velayati and Soleimanpour (although they remain wanted by Argentina).

Last November, Interpol's annual general assembly upheld the earlier executive committee decision, despite strong objections by Iran.

While a red notice is not an international arrest warrant, Interpol says many of its member countries recognize a red notice "as having the legal value to serve as a basis for provisional arrest ... [it] is intended to help police identify or locate these individuals with a view to their arrest and extradition."

Saudi Arabia is a longstanding member of Interpol, having joined in 1956. In 2002 it organized and hosted Interpol's first Asian regional conference.

'Zone of immunity'
Cybercast News Service late last week contacted Interpol's head office in Lyon, France, as well as the Saudi foreign ministry and Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C.., and Argentina's justice ministry and national Interpol office, seeking comment on Rezai's presence in Mecca.

The queries brought no response, but the Simon Wiesenthal Center - a Jewish human rights group that has been spearheading campaigns for those responsible for the AMIA attack to be brought to justice - said it brought the Iranians' presence to the attention of Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble.

Dr. Shimon Samuels, the SWC's international relations director, said he urged Noble to press the Saudi government "to abide by its international commitments and to immediately detain, at least, Mohsen Rezai until an extradition order can be obtained from Argentina."

"Interpol is best placed to apprise the Saudi authorities that, perhaps unwittingly, they are granting shelter to international terrorists and must act accordingly," he said.

The SWC also raised the issue with Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana, calling on him to demand that the Saudis detain and extradite both Rafsanjani and Rezai.

The center said Nisman, the Argentine special prosecutor, had confirmed that a request to Saudi Arabia was in progress. The foreign ministry in Buenos Aires instructed the embassy in Riyadh to request detention and examine the possibility of extradition. Nisman also contacted Interpol.

Argentina's AJN Jewish news agency quoted members of an organization of family and friends of victims of the AMIA bombing as urging Saudi Arabia to detain the Iranians, while expressing doubt that the kingdom would do so.

"What I find to be extremely ironic is that these guys have been invited to this world Muslim conference to work out the guidelines and principles for outreach to Jews and Christians," Samuels said by phone from Paris, adding that the event had been "totally betrayed by the presence of two people complicit in blowing up a Jewish center."

He recalled that when the Interpol general assembly confirmed the red notices last November, the center believed the decision would restrict their freedom of movement.

"I said, what we've gained is that those people will never be allowed out of Iran unless it is to come [to somewhere] where they are absolutely sure they're not going to be arrested - [to] allies or part of the family," Samuels said.

"As such, whatever ill-gotten gains they may have in Swiss banks or the enjoyment of going to the West for a bit of a break - or coming to Paris for a good meal - they're not going to be able to enjoy that, because everybody's eyes are going to be watching."

In this case, he observed, it seemed the Iranians had visited "a zone of immunity." Samuels voiced doubt that the Saudis would respond positively to the diplomatic requests.

Tehran has long denied Argentina's allegations about being behind the AMIA attack. On last year's 13th anniversary of the bombing, the official Irna news agency released a report blaming "international Zionism and its Argentine agents" for the atrocity.

When Interpol upheld the red notice decision last November, Fallahijan, the former intelligence chief among those listed, attributed the allegations to "Zionists' intrigue" and urged the foreign ministry to file a complaint against Argentina in international courts for making unjustified accusations against Iran.

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Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[Skyrad 0]

Peace in the future is more important than vengence for the past. If this guy is part of a movement in Iran to foster unity and peacful dialouge with Israel then not arresting him is the right thing to do for the moment. Also if he was invited by the Saudi Royal family it would be against the protocol of hospitality to arrest him within the Kingdom.
If we persued every terrorist that commited or were responsible for acts of terror in the UK then Northern Ireland would still be at war.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[rickjump1 0]

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Peace in the future is more important than vengence for the past. If this guy is part of a movement in Iran to foster unity and peacful dialouge with Israel then not arresting him is the right thing to do for the moment. Also if he was invited by the Saudi Royal family it would be against the protocol of hospitality to arrest him within the Kingdom.
If we persued every terrorist that commited or were responsible for acts of terror in the UK then Northern Ireland would still be at war.

"IF this guy is part of a movement in Iran to foster unity and peaceful dialogue with Israel....." Never realized Muslims were so forgiving. Never realized independent factions from Iran were allowed to broker there own peaceful agenda. Democracy must be coming attractive to the Iranian and Saudi governments. Yep, it has finally come. As for terrorist crimes, particularly one of this scale, there is no "get out of jail card" for this guy no matter what his nationality is.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[kallend 2,150]

Double standard.

It wasn't so long ago that Irish terrorists were invited guests in the USA.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[warpedskydiver 0]

$10k a plate fundraiser dinners were held, the mayor in attendance.

I often wondered why the doors were not just chained shut.

[StreetScooby 5]

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I often wondered why the doors were not just chained shut.

One way I see of dealing with radical Islam is to kill the money (not the guys with the guns in their hands). Why we're not doing that smacks of a lack of will on our part to preserve our way of life. Yes, I do see this issue as a culture clash.

Once the money guys are dead, worst case we can buy the rest of them TVs and show them Baywatch. Eventually, they'll grow to love us.

We are all engines of karma

[Skyrad 0]

Quote

Quote

Peace in the future is more important than vengence for the past. If this guy is part of a movement in Iran to foster unity and peacful dialouge with Israel then not arresting him is the right thing to do for the moment. Also if he was invited by the Saudi Royal family it would be against the protocol of hospitality to arrest him within the Kingdom.
If we persued every terrorist that commited or were responsible for acts of terror in the UK then Northern Ireland would still be at war.

"IF this guy is part of a movement in Iran to foster unity and peaceful dialogue with Israel....." Never realized Muslims were so forgiving. Never realized independent factions from Iran were allowed to broker there own peaceful agenda. Democracy must be coming attractive to the Iranian and Saudi governments. Yep, it has finally come.

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Maybe you should read the article again then to see what he was doing with the delegation in the Kingdom.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

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[Skyrad 0]

Quote

Quote

I often wondered why the doors were not just chained shut.

One way I see of dealing with radical Islam is to kill the money (not the guys with the guns in their hands). Why we're not doing that smacks of a lack of will on our part to preserve our way of life. Yes, I do see this issue as a culture clash.

Once the money guys are dead, worst case we can buy the rest of them TVs and show them Baywatch. Eventually, they'll grow to love us.

Because is in bed with the money guys and no one is going to change that over a few dead grunts a week.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[StreetScooby 5]

Quote

Because is in bed with the money guys and no one is going to change that over a few dead grunts a week.

Very sad, and probably very true.

We are all engines of karma

[rickjump1 0]

Quote

Double standard.

It wasn't so long ago that Irish terrorists were invited guests in the USA.

Yes, and that's wrong. They should have been arrested. Were they guests of Ted Kennedy?

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[kallend 2,150]

Quote

Quote

Double standard.

It wasn't so long ago that Irish terrorists were invited guests in the USA.

Yes, and that's wrong. They should have been arrested. Were they guests of Ted Kennedy?

Possibly, but that really doesn't matter. Immigration let them in, no-one from the feds bothered them, they could "travel freely".

Fact is, the USA only got religion on terrorists when its own ox was gored. The IRA raised $millions in the USA.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[rickjump1 0]

Quote

Quote

Quote

Double standard.

It wasn't so long ago that Irish terrorists were invited guests in the USA.

Yes, and that's wrong. They should have been arrested. Were they guests of Ted Kennedy?

Possibly, but that really doesn't matter. Immigration let them in, no-one from the feds bothered them, they could "travel freely".

Fact is, the USA only got religion on terrorists when its own ox was gored. The IRA raised $millions in the USA.

Were it not for the media, I wonder if INS or the State Department even knew they were here. Wonder if they would have been allowed in after 911 with all the new smoke and mirror agencies working "together".

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.