Judge: Ex-leader committed treason

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A federal judge on Thursday asked Argentina’s Senate to allow the arrest of former President Cristina Fernandez on a charge of treason for allegedly covering up the role of Iranians in a 1994 bomb attack on a Jewish center.

Judge Claudio Bonadio asked lawmakers to remove Fernandez’s immunity from arrest, which she gained upon being elected senator. She was sworn in last week. While Fernandez, who was president from 2007 to 2015, faces several other court actions, it’s the first time a judge has requested her arrest.

Several aides and allies of Fernandez, including former Legal and Technical Secretary Carlos Zannini and activist Luis D’Elia, were arrested Thursday on the same charges. The judge ordered former Foreign Minister Hector Timerman to be held under house arrest due to health issues.

Prosecutor Eduardo Taiano said the charge of treason carries a potential prison sentence of 10 to 25 years, while aggravated cover-up has a six-year penalty.

The judge is backing an assertion by former prosecutor Alberto Nisman that a 2013 agreement with Iran, which was portrayed as a joint attempt to solve the case, in reality ensured that the Iranians involved would never be prosecuted. The deal was approved by Congress but was later declared unconstitutional by the courts.

AP/MOISES CASTILLO Anti-government demonstrators help a woman in a wheelchair Thursday to get past a burning barricade they erected to block the road to Valle de los Angeles, on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Eight Latin American governments on Wednesday...