Buenos Aires: Former Jewish center bombing investigator (Iranian PM indicted) says was abducted

Former investigator of 1994 terror attack Claudio Lifschitz says hooded men forced him into their car, tattooed case file number on his arm with blowtorch and told him 'not to mess' with internal security service

The Argentinean daily Clarin reported Saturday that Claudio Lifschitz, a former investigator of the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by elements trying to coerce him into disclosing documents related to the case.

The attack on the Argentine-Israel Mutual Association (AMIA) building, which was carried out with an explosives-laden truck, left 85 people dead and hundreds wounded. Following a lengthy investigation, in March 2007 Interpol issued arrest warrants for five Iranians and a Lebanese national it suspects were behind the attack.
Tehran has repeatedly denied any link to the bombing, and thus far no one has been indicted for either orchestrating or perpetrating the attack. Israel, the US and Argentina continue to argue that Hizbullah was behind the act, and also blame Iran, which supports the Lebanese Shiite group.

In 2008 Lifschitz, the former adjunct secretary to the judge who headed the AMIA bombing investigation, Juan José Galeano, reported to the Argentinean congress of alleged irregularities in the probe - which eventually led to its collapse.

Lifschitz's attorney told the C5N television station that on Friday night, at around midnight, a passing car forced his client to pull over in Buenos Aires' Villa Devoto neighborhood. He was then whisked away by unknown assailants, the attorney said.

According to Lifschitz, the kidnappers covered his head with a garbage bag, and, using a blowtorch, tattooed the case file number on his arm and the letters A-M-I-A on his back.
"A van passed me by and hooded men stepped out of it," he recalled. "They forced me to climb into their vehicle, placed a garbage bag over my head and told me not to mess with SIDE (the Argentinean internal security service). They questioned me a number of times about tapes that tie Iran to the terror attack. They told me 'you can relax, we won't murder you. You'll live until we decide otherwise'."
After taking away his cell phone, the assailants released Lifschitz near the police academy building in the capital.

A reminder:

This travesty lives

10/23/2008 Alberto Nisman, ordered the confiscation of $1,000,000 (one million dollars) from bank accounts belonging to Hezbollah and to former Iranian officials, including former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Akbar Velayati.

Rafsanjani has been widely hailed in the west as a moderate, and practical man who can be talked with in order to advance relations.

The indictment is based on the civil claim initiated by one of the victims injured during the 1994 attack and whose identity remains confidential (see http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=4423615&ct=3352753). The indictment states in part that the bombing "had structural support from the Iranian State as well as from the Lebanese group Hizbullah for its organization, financing and operation."

"This new indictment by Prosecutor Nisman strengthens the fight for justice for the victims of the AMIA bombing. We call on the international community to support this legal effort on behalf of innocent victims of terror as well for the strengthening of mechanisms to prevent the financing of terrorism," said Dr. Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

"Our Center applauds this measure, and stands in solidarity with someone who has bravely initiated a civil claim against the terrorists and the senior Iranian government officials involved in this heinous crime. We hope that the Prosecutor's indictment will encourage other victims to seek to use the legal system to strike a blow against the terrorists who shattered their lives. We also hope Argentina's indictment will serve as a model for all victims of terrorism," added Sergio Widder, Latin American Representative of the Center.

For further information please contact Sergio Widder at +54911 4425-1306