New York, NY, January 28, 2013 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed deep concern and disappointment with the Argentine government’s decision to collaborate with Iran in a so-called “Truth Commission” into the 1994 terrorist bombing attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires.
The terrorist attack killed 85 Argentineans and injured hundreds.
Barry Curtiss-Lusher, ADL National Chair and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director issued the following statement:
Argentina’s apparent willingness to collaborate with the Iranian regime’s nearly 20-year effort to evade being brought to justice under the Argentine criminal justice system is deeply disturbing.
The recently announced Memorandum of Understanding is an unprecedented attempt to establish a mechanism with no enforcement powers to internationalize the criminal proceedings against Iranian nationals with ties to the world’s most notorious state sponsor of terrorism which have been pursued for years by professional Argentine prosecutors.
This latest maneuver by Iran with shocking cooperation of the government of Argentina sets up an extrajudicial process which will further delay, and may even eliminate, the possibility of bringing the accused Iranian perpetrators of the terrorist attack to justice under Argentine law. We call on President Kirchner to reconsider this affront to the victims and survivors and to the criminal justice system of Argentina.
The prolonged pain and suffering of the survivors and the families of the victims of the most devastating terror attack on a Jewish institution in the Western hemisphere are all but forgotten in this ill-considered agreement.
The agreement was signed by Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 27 after a series of meetings held mainly in Switzerland.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.