WIESENTHAL CENTER URGES UN SEC-GEN BAN TO BAR IRAN'S NEW DEFENSE MINISTER FROM ALL UNITED NATIONS FACILITIES AND EVENTS

August 27, 2009

WIESENTHAL CENTER URGES UN SEC-GEN BAN TO BAR IRAN'S NEW DEFENSE MINISTER FROM ALL UNITED NATIONS FACILITIES AND EVENTS

Ahmad Vahidi, wanted by INTERPOL for murderous Jewish center bombing, “should be arrested on sight"

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to bar Iran’s new Defense Minister, Ahmad Vahidi from all UN events and facilities. Vahidi has an INTERPOL Red Notice warrant for his role in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires that left 85 dead and hundreds wounded.

In a letter to Secretary General Ban, Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center, said, “…the nomination of Vahidi to a level of Minister in the Iranian Government makes a mockery of all victims of international terrorism, an offense to Argentine sovereignty and is a scandal for the international community.” He urged Ban to call for a censure of Iran as a state sponsor of terror and that if Vahidi enter any UN facility, he be arrested and sent to Argentina for trial.

Hier also called on the UN to create a central registry of terrorism suspects much like the post-WWII CROWCRASS list used by the UN War Crimes Commission and countries to track down suspected Nazi war criminals. “We feel that it behooves the United Nations to relaunch such a registry for the terrorism perpetrators of our day,” Hier wrote, adding that, “the Wiesenthal Center is ready to share in the preparation of an effective security tool vital for world stability.”

Center Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper added that Vahidi, who rose through the ranks of the Revolutionary Guard, was handpicked by President Ahmadinejad. “The appointment of this terrorist is a slap in the face to the Obama administration's goal of open dialogue and all those who still believe the world can maintain a business as usual approach to Ahmadinejad and the mullahs. Vahidi will only be welcomed in Venezuela and North Korea--two close allies of the Iranian regime.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

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