“A meeting dedicated to the memory of assassinated AMIA Prosecutor Alberto Nisman.”
London, 18 July 2018
Today is the 24th anniversary of the AMIA Buenos Aires Jewish Centre bombing, leaving 85 dead and over 300 wounded.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre in the United Kingdom was hosted by the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) at a Parliamentary event, entitled “In the Shadow of the AMIA Bombing: Global Terrror and the Threat Today.” [see link: <https://henryjacksonsociety.org/event/in-the-shadow-of-the-amia-bombing-global-terror-and-the-threat-today/>].
(from left to right) Tom Wilson, Anita Weinstein, Shimon Samuels, Lord Trimble, Argentine Ambassador Sersale,
Ariel Gelblung, Michael Caplan and Dana Erlich
Chaired by Lord Trimble, Nobel Peace Prize laureate for crafting the Northern Ireland “Good Friday Agreement,” the meeting was opened by Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, and dedicated to “the memory of its 86th victim, AMIA Prosecutor Alberto Nisman.”
He stressed that “the meeting’s objective was to examine the application of the pending INTERPOL ‘Red Notice’ arrest warrants, or under universal jurisdiction, for the detention and extradition to Argentina of the Iranian perpetrators.” Samuels read two messages of support from the current President of AMIA, Agustin Zbar, and Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General, Luis Almagro.
H.E. Renato Carlos Sersale di Cerisano, Argentine Ambassador to the United Kingdom read a message from his Foreign Minister, Jorge Faurie. "Together with the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in 1992, these two attacks constitute the two major acts of international terrorism perpetrated in our country's history... The Argentine Government is fully committed to seeking justice on behalf of the victims.... to ensure that all those involved in the attack are brought before the Argentine courts..."
Israeli Embassy Counsellor, Dana Erlich, of Argentine descent, also spoke of the Israeli Embassy bombing in Buenos Aires in which she had lost friends.
AMIA bombing survivor, Anita Weinstein, had come to London to present a moving testimony: "I was preparing the 100th anniversary of AMIA at the back of the building, when the explosion left me on an open ledge above the carnage below... I had become the target of hate, I, the daughter of Holocaust survivors."
Tom Wilson, HJS Research Fellow on Radicalization and Terrorism, claimed that "Iranian state-sponsored terrorism is not taken seriously in the UK, while British soldiers were killed with weapons provided by Iran in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Likewise, Al-Qaeda senior figures were sheltered in Iran, from where they guided lone-wolf, low-tech terror with stabbings and car rammings in the UK."
Dr. Ariel Gelblung, Advocate and Buenos Aires-based SWC-Latin America Representative, explained that "there are four parallel legal cases in Argentina emanating from the AMIA bombing:
1) President Carlos Menem and former judge Galeano, among others, are subject to a trial for cover-up;
2) Former President Cristina Kirchner and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, are subject to a trial following their Memorandum of Understanding with Iran;
3) The case for murder of AMIA Prosecutor Alberto Nisman;
4) The reopened case against the five remaining Iranian suspects."
Michael Caplan QC, British expert on extradition and universal jurisdiction, argued that any of the Iranian suspects were to land on British soil, in view of the INTERPOL Red Notice, must be stopped and detained. The Police would then inform Argentina, whereupon Buenos Aires would issue a request for arrest and extradition proceedings.
Samuels thanked all participants, hoping that “this meeting be a first step in the pursuit of justice and closure for the families of terror victims and survivors of terror worldwide.”
He summarized: "I am confident that if the perpetrators were to arrive in the UK, they would be apprehended and an arrest warrant issued by an Argentine judge would serve as a catalyst for their extradition."
(from left to right) Lord Trimble, Ariel Gelblung, Anita Weinstein, Michael Caplan,
Argentine Ambassador Sersale, Tom Wilson, Graciela Vaserman Samuels,
Shimon Samuels and Miguel Abadi
The meeting was followed by a reception in the Argentine Ambassador’s residence.