MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK denies extradition of Iranian diplomat.

The British government decided on Wednesday to turn down Argentina's request for the extradition of a former Iranian diplomat Buenos Aires wants in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that left 85 dead and 200 wounded.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said that the extradition of Hadi Soleimanpour, 47, had been denied and that Britain had also lifted the arrest warrant against the ex-diplomat.

He added that the decision had been made by the Home Office, which deals with extradition requests, the day before the former diplomat was slated to appear in a London court in connection with the extradition request.

Soleimanpour was arrested on Aug. 21 in the northwestern English city of Durham, where he was attending the university. His arrest had been requested via Interpol by Argentine Judge Juan Jose Galeano, who is handling the case, along with those of seven other former Iranian officials implicated in the case.

On Sept. 19, Soleimanpour was freed on bail after a court ruled that there was no clear evidence of his involvement in the terrorist attack.

The Iranian government paid most of the bail amount for the release of its former ambassador.

The attack against the AMIA Jewish organization, the bloodiest in the history of Argentina, was carried out with a car bomb detonated at the group's office building in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994.

The seven-story building was reduced to rubble and the investigation initially attributed the attack to the Lebanese-based Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah.

Soleimanpour has always denied any involvement.

News of the British decision brought swift condemnation from the Jewish community in Argentina.

"We deplore the decision of the British government. We are convinced there is sufficient evidence on the involvement of Soleimanpour when he was Iran's ambassador to Argentina," Alfredo Neuburger, spokesman for DAIA, a coalition of Jewish organizations in Buenos Aires.

"This was a great chance to make progress in the search for truth and justice in a case which has been dragging for almost 10 years, (now) foiled by this decision, which we deplore," he added.

Neuburger said that the refusal to extradite Soleimanpour to Argentina was a political decision, but he refused to speculate on the motives of the British government.

Soleimanpour's arrest sparked tension in relations between Buenos Aires and Tehran - with the suspension of diplomatic, trade and cultural ties - and attacks against British institutions in Iran.