Pope seeks justice 20 years after attack on Argentine Jews

Pope Francis called Friday for justice to be done in the unsolved bombing at a Jewish center in Argentina that killed 85 people and wounded 300 others two decades ago. “Twenty years on from the tragedy at the Argentine Jewish Charities Federation (AMIA), I want to express my closeness with the Argentine Jewish community and all the victims’ families, whether Jewish or Christian,” the pope said in a recorded message played at commemorations of the anniversary. “I’ve said before that Buenos Aires is a city that needs to weep, that still hasn’t cried enough,” said Francis, who served as archbishop of Buenos Aires before becoming pope and was auxiliary bishop of the city when the bomb exploded at the AMIA on July 18, 1994. Since 2006, Argentine courts have demanded the extradition of eight Iranians, including former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former defense minister Ahmad Vahidi and Mohsen Rabbani, Iran’s former cultural attache in Buenos Aires.