Argentina: president charged in terror cover-up
An Argentine federal prosecutor on Jan. 14 accused the country's president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, of complicity in covering up Iran's involvement in a 1994 terrorist attack. The bombing of the Argentinine Jewish Mutual Association is said to have been one of the country's worst attacks, resulting in 85 deaths. The prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, requested that Judge Ariel Lijo interrogate the president and the foreign minister for "being authors and accomplices of an aggravated cover-up and obstruction of justice regarding the Iranians accused of the Amia terrorist attack," and seizing 200 million pesos worth of assets. The prosecutor cited phone tap recordings that show how the current administration negotiated with the Iranian government to cover up Iranian officials involvement in return for the establishment of a trade of grain for oil that would ameliorate Argentina's energy deficit.
From Jurist, Jan. 15. Used with permission.
Did Iran kill Argentine prosecutor?
The body of Alberto Nisman, special prosecutor in the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA), was found shot to death in the bathroom of his apartment in Buenos Aires Jan. 18. Press reports in Argentina suggest the death was a suicide, although the authorities have not confirmed this. (Buenos Aires Herald, Jan. 19) But the Daily Beast asks: "Did Iran Murder Argentina's Crusading Prosecutor Alberto Nisman?" The account noted that a detail of 10 members of the Argentine Federal Police had been assigned to him as bodyguards—but were mysteriously not deployed when the killing took place. Nisman, who was appointed 10 years ago by the current president’s late husband Néstor Kirchner, was the key architect of the theory of Iranian and Hezbollah involvement in the AMIA bombing. According to Argentine press accounts, he had recently told members of political opposition that he was ready to appear at a congressional hearing with more documents to back his allegations against Fernández de Kirchner.