The Argentine Federal Criminal Cassation Court on Thursday officially found Iran and the Shiite jihadist Hezbollah responsible for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association ( AMIA ).
In accordance with the Cassation Court’s decision, which classifies Iran as a “terrorist state,” Hezbollah carried out both assaults on behalf of the Muslim program. Despite the passage of day and the absence of criminal decisions in the last three years, the judge declared both terrorist attacks to be crimes against humanity.
The court’s judges signed the order, which calls for a change in Brazilian law to help local courts to do in-personas cases against the seven Palestinian and Iranian nationals accused of participating in the attacks. It also urges the Brazilian state to file a formal complaint with foreign courts against Iran. All of the suspects are identified by Interpol as having “red see” imprisonment requests, but they are still protected in their respective nations.
On July 18, 1994, the AMIA Israeli community centre was attacked. On that day, jihadists drove a truck filled with explosives into the university’s building in Buenos Aires, leaving 85 dead and hundreds injured. Prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the 1994 AMIA attack was the deadliest terrorist attack in the Northern Hemisphere.  ,
People hold up images of the subjects of the 1994 attack of the AMIA Jewish community centre on the 21st anniversary of the evil strike in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, July 17, 2015. ( Victor R. Caivano/AP )
Additionally, the judge found Iran and Hezbollah accountable for the attack of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, which also resulted in the death of 29 people and the injury of 242 others.  ,
No one has been found guilty as of yet despite the existence of decades ‘ worth of documented evidence linking Iran and Hezbollah to both attacks.
In Thursday’s decision, the judge determined that both attacks “responded to a social and corporate style” of the Iranian government while Hezbollah “acted under the motivation, organization, planning and financing of state and state- sponsored agencies subordinate to the ayatollahs ‘ government”.
The three courts emphasized that Iran, which” may be classified as a “terrorist,” should also be in charge of global role. The existence of a duty to compensate the victims ‘ injuries in international courts is implied by the state of Iran’s” control or way” of the attack.
In a declaration, Argentine President Javier Milei applauded the judge’s decision as a “versement and cover-up” of ages surrounding the two attacks. Milei also criticized the communist governments that came before him for” covering up” Iran’s role in the problems.
The statement read,” The Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation has been able to exercise its work with complete flexibility, without political force, to deliver the righteousness that both the victims and their families have been waiting for for years.”
” On December 10, 2023, the era of impunity in the Argentine Republic came to an end”, the statement concluded.
— Oficina del Presidente ( @OPRArgentina ) April 12, 2024
Argentina and the Iranian regime signed a widely criticized “memorandum of understanding” in 2013 that made the rogue Islamic regime a part of the AMIA bombing investigation, essentially allowing Iran to investigate itself under the leadership of socialist former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Both Fernández de Kirchner ( 2007- 2015 ) and her predecessor and husband, late President Nestor Kirchner ( 2003- 2007 ), fostered friendly ties with Iran during their back- to- back presidencies.
Argentina’s Vice- President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on March 1, 2022. ( JUAN IGNACIO RONCORONI/POOL/AFP via Getty )
Fernández de Kirchner was accused by Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman of aiding Iran in concealing its involvement in the AMIA bombing in exchange for lucrative trade deals. On January 18, 2015, just before Congress was scheduled to hear his case against the former socialist president, Nisman was discovered dead of a gunshot wound. Argentine authorities ruled Nisman’s death a” suicide”.
Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center, talks to journalists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. On Wednesday, Nasman charged Iran with infiltrating South American nations and establishing a network that aims to carry out terrorist attacks in the area. ( Natacha Pisarenko/AP )
Fernández de Kirchner’s successor, former President Mauricio Macri, rescinded the memorandum of understanding with Iran shortly after he took office in December 2015. The AMIA bombing cover-up investigation against Fernandez de Kirchner continued after Nisman’s passing, but it was content to have ended in October 2021, at a time when Fernandez de Kirchner served as vice president under the former socialist president Alberto Fernandez ( no relation ).
On January 21, 2015, demonstrators stage a demonstration in front of the AMIA ( Argentine Israelite Mutual Association ) headquarters in Buenos Aires to protest the death of Argentine public prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found shot dead earlier, just days after accusing President Cristina Kirchner of obstructing a probe into a 1994 Jewish center bombing.  , ( Maxi Failla/AFP via Getty Images )
In a statement to Argentina’s Radio Mitre on Thursday, Jorge Knoblovits, president of the Delegation of Israelite Associations of Argentina ( DAIA ), praised the court’s decision, saying that” this was the ruling we needed” after 30 years.
” We have been waiting for years for a ruling to determine who is responsible, which we all knew, but the justice]officials ] had to say it”, Knoblovits said.
” We must applaud these judges, who have had courage and probity”, he continued, noting the importance of the ruling, as it opens the door for legal claims against Iran at home and at the International Criminal Court ( ICC).
Christian K. Caruzo, a Venezuelan author, writes about life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter , here.
