Kirchner: sourceBuenos Aires, Dec 7 (AFP) An Argentine judge todayordered the arrest of former president Cristina Kirchner forallegedly covering up Iranian involvement in a 1994 bombing ata Buenos Aires Jewish center that left 85 people dead,according to a judicial source.
The order also removes the judicial immunity of Kirchner,who served as president from 2007-2015 and is now a senator.
She has previously called the case an "absurdity.""As happens regularly in Argentina, the news was firstleaked to the press and Cristina has not yet been notified,"an aide to the former president told AFP.
The former president is accused of signing a deal withTehran to allow Iranian officials suspected of ordering theattack on the Jewish center to be interviewed by Argentinemagistrates in Tehran rather than in Buenos Aires.
Kirchner, 64, who had two four-year terms in office, isdue to take her seat in the Senate next week after herelection victory in October crowned a political comeback andgranted her immunity from imprisonment in several corruptioncases.
The Senate will now have to vote on lifting her immunityat the judge's request, for which a two-thirds majority isneeded.
Kirchner's leftist alliance in the Senate has a total of32 seats, but only around a dozen senators are in the Kirchnercamp.
The center-right Cambiemos alliance of President MauricioMacri has 25 seats in the upper house.
Judge Carlos Bonadio also ordered the arrest of formerforeign minister Hector Timerman and several other formerofficials in the Kirchner governments.
The ex-head of the Federal Intelligence Agency, OscarParrilli, was ordered not to leave the country.
Bonadio took over the case after prosecutor AlbertoNisman, which was filed four days before his mysterious deathon January 18, 2016.
The Jewish center bombing case is the most serious beforeKirchner, who is facing trial in several other cases involvingcorruption and money-laundering stemming from her years aspresident.
Several prominent members of her former government havebeen detained on corruption charges in recent weeks, includingex-public works minister Julio De Vido and Amado Boudou,Kirchner's vice-president from 2011-2015. (AFP)NSA.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.