In 1992, Iranian-backed terrorists bombed the Israeli embassy in Argentina killing twenty-nine people and injuring two-hundred. Two years later, perhaps emboldened by the lack of action from Argentina’s authorities in investigating the attack, a deadlier one took place. Once again, Iranian-backed terrorists bombed a Jewish Community Center killing eighty-four people and injuring 300 more. Both attacks cost immense casualties and five times more injuries. It has long been speculated that the Executive Branch led by Saúl Menem, born to a Syrian-Lebanese Muslim family helped the perpetrators of both attacks escape justice by covering up the involvement of the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.
In 1997, Alberto Nisman, a prosecutor, first joined the team tasked with investigating the bombings. In 2004 he would be promoted to the role of Special Prosecutor leading the investigation.
In 2007, Cristina Kirchner was elected president amid speculation that Iran bankrolled her political campaign in exchange for her derailing the investigation of the attacks. A 2011 newspaper article alleged that Kirchner was negotiating an agreement with Iran that would overlook Iran’s involvement in regard to the bombings. Ultimately in 2013, her government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, which afforded judicial protections to some of the suspected perpetrators, dropping them from Interpol lists, and thus helping them evade justice.
On January 14th, 2015, Alberto Nisman, then a Federal Prosecutor, who had been investigating the bombings for eighteen years, filed a 300-page complaint against Argentina’s president accusing her of conspiring with Iran to protect the perpetrators in exchange for a trade deal. Four days later – the day before presenting his findings to congress – Nisman was found dead in his apartment. In charge of Nisman’s safety was Argentina’s Federal Police, evidently under Kirchner’s executive authority.
Unsurprisingly, the investigation into Nisman’s death, who at the time was investigating the concealment of another conspiracy, turned into a cover-up. According to an Argentinian report, the crime scene was contaminated prior to the arrival of forensic teams; politicians loyal to Kirchner removed thousands of documents from Nisman’s apartment; Nisman’s electronic devices were accessed prior to the establishment of a controlled chain of custody; and government-employed forensic examiners rushed to rule it a suicide, a conclusion later disproven. This year, Argentina’s Supreme Court upheld a sentence against Kirchner, who was convicted and sentenced to six years of house arrest for corruption, and barred from ever holding public office again. Kirchner was additionally charged with conspiracy over the memorandum signed with Iran. Moreover, both the original prosecutor assigned to investigate Nisman’s death, and the judge overseeing the proceedings, were indicted over their mishandling of the crime scene and the subsequent investigation this year. While the tainting of the scene where Nisman was killed has hindered the likelihood of anyone being convicted for Nisman’s death, at least some of those who repeatedly obstructed justice may finally face consequences.
