Centro Simon Wiesenthal
Cabello 3872, PB "C" (C1425APR) - Buenos Aires - Argentina
Teléfono: (5411) 4802-1744 * Fax: (5411) 4802-1774
E-mail: info@cswlatinoamerica.org


Buenos Aires

“Ironically, this agreement was signed and promulgated on January 27, UN Holocaust Commemoration Day – an atrocity repeatedly denied by the Iranian President. While Argentina officially pays tribute to the memory of 6.000.000 Jews murdered by the Nazis, it announces an accord with their Iranian ideological heirs, bent on perpetrating a new Holocaust against Jews today.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed outrage at the Argentine – Iranian decision to, reportedly create a so-called “Truth Commission” to resolve the 1994 terrorist attack against the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, which resulted in 85 people killed and hundreds injured.

The announcement was made by Argentine President Cristina Kirchner (pictured), who called it “historic”, via her twitter account. The agreement was signed by Argentine and Iranian Foreign Ministers, Hector Timerman and Ali Akbar Salehi, in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.

According to official sources, this Commission will be composed of five “independent members”, plus two selected by Buenos Aires and Tehran respectively, to analyze data submitted by Argentina and Iran, and then issue a report with recommendations to both parties. A joint panel of both government officials in Tehran would then interrogate the suspects sought by INTERPOL. The agreement would be submitted to each country’s legislature for ratification. INTERPOL authorities would be kept informed.

“This result of negotiations leaked almost two years ago amid media speculation of a commercial deal, flies in the face of Argentine annual demands from the UN podium for extradition of the Iranian accomplices to murder for trial in Buenos Aires… The Addis Abeba agreement will do for Iran what Munich 1938 did for Nazi Germany: whet the appetite of another mass murderer for further terror and, this time, nuclear genocide… This deal is a whitewash for terrorism,” argued Dr. Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

“How is it possible to reach an understanding to solve the case with those who have denied any involvement in the bombing? Whose legal standards are going to prevail? What level of trust can anyone have in a totalitarian regime that has no respect for human rights? Our Center will always stand in solidarity with the families of the victims and continue to fight for truth and justice,” added Sergio Widder, the Center’s Director for Latin America.

“Ironically, this agreement was signed and promulgated on January 27, UN Holocaust Commemoration Day – an atrocity repeatedly denied by the Iranian President. While Argentina officially pays tribute to the memory of 6.000.000 Jews murdered by the Nazis, it announces an accord with their Iranian ideological heirs, bent on perpetrating a second Holocaust against Jews today”, concluded the Center’s officials.

For further information, please contact Dr. Shimon Samuels at +336 09770158 or Sergio Widder (in Brazil until January 29) at +5521 79091833, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino)