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Weekly Report - 15 January 2015 (WR-15-02)

ARGENTINA: Amia prosecutor accuses Fernández of cover-up

President Cristina Fernández, and other senior government officials, “covered up” the involvement of Iranians in the 1994 bombing of the headquarters of the Amia Jewish association in Buenos Aires, according to Alberto Nisman, the lead prosecutor in the investigation into the attack. In a document released on 14 January, Nisman demanded a freeze of Arg$200m (US$23m) of Fernández’s assets and the right to question her, foreign minister Héctor Timerman, and the head of the Kirchnerista youth group, Andrés Larroque. According to Nisman’s report, the government sought to “ease” Iran out of the Amia case in order to ensure good trade relations.

The attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina headquarters was the deadliest bombing in Argentine history. Eighty-five people were killed and hundreds were injured. No one has been prosecuted over the attack, and the case has been marked by accusations of cover-ups and incompetence. In October 2006, Nisman and another prosecutor formally accused Hezbollah of directing the attack, with the backing of the Iranian government; a charge Teheran has repeatedly denied.

In January 2013, Iran and Argentina reached an agreement about creating a truth commission, the terms of which were seriously criticised by the US, Israel and the Argentine opposition, to investigate the bombing. In May 2014 the Argentine supreme court struck down the agreement to hold the commission and the investigation has been in stasis ever since.

According to Nisman’s 300-page document, President Fernández and her officials wished to exonerate leading Iranian officials suspected of involvement in order to “establish trade relations to mitigate Argentina’s severe energy crisis, through an exchange of oil for grains”. In his report, he claims that “the President diverted the investigation, abandoning years of a legitimate demand for justice and sought to free the accused Iranians, despite their proven ties with the attack. She decided to fabricate ‘the innocence of Iran’”. Nisman argues that Buenos Aires and Teheran set up a clandestine communications channel to facilitate this agreement. The evidence for his claim is principally based on phone intercepts.

The government has robustly denied the charges. Aníbal Fernández, the secretary to the presidency, called the accusations “ridiculous”. At a press conference on 14 January, he said, “filing a complaint against the President for using her constitutional powers is nonsense”. The potential presidential candidates linked to the ruling Frente para la Victoria (FPV) also dismissed the charges. Senior opposition politicians, however, have asked to meet Nisman to discuss the allegations. Sergio Massa, a leading opposition presidential candidate, said Nisman’s report showed the futility of signing a memorandum of understanding with a country “which supports terrorism”.

It is unclear how this will play out, politically. The accusations are likely to increase the level of paranoia within government circles. The President and her ministers have often spoken of “coup-mongering” within the opposition. Nisman’s report also sounds the death knell for the truth commission itself, although it was looking extremely unlikely to succeed in uncovering anything useful. A successful prosecution of any of the culprits is further away than ever.

The timing of the report is also interesting. Timerman is under fire at present over his decision to attend the solidarity rally in Paris on Sunday for the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo as a private citizen, rather than as a representative of the government. Opposition politicians have suggested he did so at the President’s request, to avoid antagonising Iran. Once again, the government has strongly denied this.

  • Argentine Jews respond

Representatives of Argentina’s 200,000-strong Jewish community responded cautiously to Alberto Nisman’s report. Julio Schlosser, the head of the Argentine-Jewish Association said the news was completely unexpected. “We are now waiting to see if we can meet Nisman to know in detail something we heard about through the media,” he said.

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