Outrage after Iranian official wanted in connection with deadly AMIA bombing is invited to inauguration of Nicaraguan President

Nicaragua is facing outrage after an Iranian official wanted in connection with the deadly AMIA bombing attended the swearing-in of controversial President Daniel Ortega for a fourth term following an election widely viewed as rigged.

Mohsen Rezaee, a Vice President of Iran and two-time former Presidential candidate, attended the ceremony this week despite being wanted by Interpol for his role in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994.

Mr Rezaee was the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps at the time of the AMIA bombing, which he is believed to have masterminded and which killed 86 people and injured hundreds. The United States has designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

Mr Rezaee has been wanted by Interpol since 2007.

The Organisation of American States’ antisemitism envoy, the Brazilian lawyer Fernando Lottenberg, called for Nicaragua to abide by its duties as a member of Interpol, saying: “I repudiate the presence of the Vice President of Iran at the inauguration of Daniel Ortega in Managua. Mohsen Rezaee is under a red alert from Interpol. Nicaragua, as a member of Interpol, should soon comply with it.”

Argentina has its own arrest warrant out for Mr Rezaee, and the country’s Foreign Ministry said that “his presence in Managua constitutes an affront to Argentine justice and to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack against the AMIA.” 

During his visit, Mr Rezaee also met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.

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