“Over the next few weeks, every Argentine seemed to have an opinion about how Nisman had died; the case became the Latin-American equivalent of the J.F.K. assassination, grist for conspiracy theories involving spies and foreign governments and conniving politicians. Posters across Buenos Aires asked: Who killed Nisman?”
The New Yorker
January 18 2024 — The 52-year-old was found dead in his apartment on January 18 2015. Nine years later, the mysterious death of special prosecutor Albert Nisman is still an unresolved case. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
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“I am not going to speculate because I do not know who killed him but, yes, there are possibly ‘dark forces’ at work in this country.”
Horacio Verbitzky
Argentina journalist and human rights campaigner
UPDATE (January 19 2024) — On December 20 2023, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Matthew G. Olsen, the Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, James Smith, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Edward A. Caban, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced the unsealing of terrorism charges against SAMUEL SALMAN EL REDA, a dual Colombian-Lebanese citizen and member of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization (“IJO”), in connection with EL REDA’s alleged role leading decades of terrorist activity on behalf of Hizballah and the IJO.
The Press Release reads:
“Beginning in at least 1993, EL REDA has led terrorist operations on behalf of Hizballah and the IJO in South America, Asia, and Lebanon. EL REDA was responsible for, among other things, helping to plan and execute the July 18, 1994, bombing of the Asociaión Mutual Israelita Argentina (“AMIA”) building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 85 people and injured hundreds more. EL REDA’s activities for Hizballah in connection with the AMIA bombing included relaying information to IJO operatives that was used for planning and executing the attack.”
I find the allegation quite suspicious. Why now? What is the evidence uncovered 30 years later? Nevertheless, I will keep an open mind… In any case, I consulted ChatGPT on the current status of this affair.
“To this day, I doubt he committed suicide.”
President Alberto Fernández
Intel Today : Tell me about the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman.
ChatGPT :
Alberto Nisman, an Argentine prosecutor, was found dead on January 18, 2015, in his apartment in Buenos Aires. His death occurred just days after he had accused then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and other government officials of covering up Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. The bombing had resulted in 85 deaths and hundreds of injuries, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina’s history.
Nisman’s body was discovered with a gunshot wound to the head, and a gun was found next to him. Initially ruled as a suicide by local authorities, Nisman’s death raised suspicions and led to intense speculation and controversy both within Argentina and internationally. Many questioned the official version of events, suspecting foul play due to the nature of Nisman’s work and the timing of his accusations against high-ranking government officials.
The circumstances surrounding Nisman’s death remain a subject of debate and investigation. Some believe that he was murdered in an attempt to silence his accusations against the government, while others maintain that he took his own life. The case has been marked by various twists and turns, including changes in the official investigations and legal proceedings. The controversy and unanswered questions surrounding Nisman’s death have continued to fuel political debates and discussions about the rule of law in Argentina.
Intel Today : Is there any evidence of Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA)?
ChatGPT :
The 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires remains one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Argentina’s history. Although the Argentine government initially attributed the attack to Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group with ties to Iran, and specifically implicated Iran in orchestrating the bombing, concrete evidence linking Iran to the attack has been elusive.
The investigation into the AMIA bombing has been complex, marked by challenges such as political interference, corruption, and inconsistencies in the legal process. In 2006, Argentine prosecutors, including Alberto Nisman, accused Iran of masterminding the attack and Hezbollah of carrying it out. Nisman, in particular, alleged that Iran had ordered the attack in retaliation for Argentina’s cancellation of a nuclear technology transfer agreement with Iran.
However, despite these accusations, concrete evidence directly implicating Iran in the bombing has not been conclusively presented.
END of UPDATE
“The challenge is very complex. If this had been investigated differently from the start, this would be a whole different thing.”
Eduardo Taiano
Federal prosecutor
On the next day, Nisman was scheduled to testify before Congress that Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (along with members of her government) had attempted to cover-up a deal that protected the perpetrators of the 1994 bombing of AMIA, a Buenos Aires Jewish cultural center.
Former Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman – relying on the testimony of an Iranian defector named Abolghasem Mesbahi – had accused President Cristina Kirchner of shielding Iranian officials from prosecution over the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center.
[Intel Today was able to communicate with Abolghasem Mesbahi but this writer never met him in person.]
There is no doubt that Nisman’s investigation was receiving some help from the US and Israel intelligence agencies.
Alberto Nisman has by now been murdered although his death was at first quickly reported as a suicide.
“An Argentinian prosecutor was murdered four days after he formally accused the then president Cristina Fernández of covering up the role of Iranian officials in connection with the country’s deadliest terror attack, a border police investigation has found.
The report, obtained by the Associated Press, bases its conclusions on controversial new evidence and sharply contradicts earlier official findings that Alberto Nisman likely killed himself.” [Guardian — November 6 2017]
General Cesar Milani — arrested on February 17 2017 under charges of kidnapping and tortures — is a suspect in the death of the former prosecutor Alberto Nisman.
Former officers of Argentina Intelligence Services are also suspected.
Staged Suicide
Federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano told the AP that Nisman’s death was the most complicated criminal case he had ever investigated.
Taiano, who took over the stalled case from another judge in 2016 following a supreme court order, requested a multidisciplinary border police team take a fresh look after an investigation that had been highly questioned for mishandling of evidence and other irregularities.
Taiano said that the agency, whose main role was to guard borders and fight drug trafficking, was chosen because it hadn’t been involved in the earlier, much-questioned investigation.
The border police report says Nisman was beaten by two people who drugged him and placed him in front of his bathtub. While one of the attackers held him under the armpits “as in a hug” the other placed the gun on his head and shot him. It was about 2:46am on a Sunday.
The investigation listed key evidence that wasn’t mentioned in previous reports: Nisman’s nasal septum was broken, he had suffered blows to his hip and other areas, and ketamine, a drug with strong anaesthetic properties, was in his body
In the La Tablada Jewish cemetery, the bodies of those who killed themselves are relegated to a far corner. Nisman is buried with the victims of the AMIA attack.
Who Killed Alberto Nisman? – In Search of Truth in Argentina
UPDATE (January 18 2020) — Five years after the mysterious death of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, just days after he accused then-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of a cover-up in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre, a Netflix documentary has revived debate in the country still bitterly divided over the case.
The Prosecutor, the President and the Spy, a six-part docuseries by British filmmaker Justin Webster, examines the prosecutor’s still unsolved death only days after he accused Fernández de Kirchner of colluding with Iran to allow the alleged authors of the bombing to go free.
Calls have gone out on social media for a demonstration this Saturday (January 18 2020) in downtown Buenos Aires against the government of President Alberto Fernández – whose vice-president is Fernández de Kirchner – to mark the anniversary of his death. [Buenos Aires Times]
END of UPDATE
UPDATE (January 18 2021) — Much has been happening in the last 12 months, and I will just present the main developments.
New Trial — Argentine Jewish groups were expecting a long-awaited victory in the 26-year struggle for justice in the 1994 AMIA Jewish center terrorist bombing, figuring there was enough evidence to convict the car mechanic accused of preparing the deadly car bomb.
But, on December 23 2020, a federal court acquitted the defendant, Carlos Telleldin, in a second trial in the case.
The court said it would not detail its decision until March 26 2021, offering only a one-line decision to acquit Carlos Alberto Telleldin for the facts that he was accused.
More disinformation — The Times of Israel claims that Israel’s Mossad provided the intelligence information that enabled Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman to prove that Iran orchestrated the 1994 AMIA terrorist bombing.
According to a recent documentary, an ex-Mossad agent gave Nisman incriminating information on former Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s alleged efforts to cover up Iran’s role in the blast, in a sequence of events that ultimately led to Nisman’s assassination.
Just a few days ago, the same newspaper claimed that Tehran was responsible for the Lockerbie tragedy and urged president Trump to bomb Iran.
Forget about Tehran — After years of research, independent investigative journalist Gareth Porter has concluded that revelations by a former police spy upend the official story blaming Iran for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.
The evidence suggests a cover-up by dirty war elements may have let the real culprits off the hook.
RELATED POST: Buenos Aires AMIA Bombing — New Revelations Exonerate Tehran
Gareth Porter believes that the main witness — Iranian defector Abolghasem Mesbahi — has fabricated false information incriminating Iran for the bombing.
Mesbahi is the same person who fabricated the evidence blaming Tehran for the tragedy of Pan Am Flight 103.
RELATED POST: One Year Ago — Has Iran President Just Admitted Responsibility for Lockerbie? [A personal story about the infamous 5th device]
As the readers of this blog know, I have come to the conclusion that Iran has no responsibility whatsoever in the Lockerbie Affair.
In both cases, impunity for the real culprits continues, but the truth is slowing emerging.
Netflix — Released on January 1 2020, the true-crime docuseries “Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President and the Spy” has caused a furor in Argentina.
The new documentary has elicited public comments from two presidents.
When asked what he thought of Nisman’s death, President Alberto Fernández — a one-time Kirchner chief of staff — replied, “To this day, I doubt he committed suicide.”
“Observing his behavior, seeing a man elated by what he was doing, I find it hard to believe that he could end up committing suicide,” Fernández told Radio 10, mentioning that he met Nisman a few days before his death.
“I’d like to know what happened to Nisman and if he killed himself, why?” Fernández said.
Former President Kirchner publicly applauded the series in a long, personal post celebrating Netflix as having succeeding where Argentine justice failed.
Nisman’s abrupt death was revealed to the world in a tweet posted by Pachter, then a reporter with the Buenos Aires Herald:
“Prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found in the bathroom of his Puerto Madero home in a pool of blood. He wasn’t breathing. The doctors are there.”
On Twitter, the government of Argentina posted “the journalist who left the country because he was ‘afraid’ takes refuge in Israel #AMIA #Nisman #Pachter.”
This tweet is no longer available. The account has been suspended.
Stay tuned!
END of UPDATE
REFERENCES
Former Argentine Army Chief Arrested On Dirty War Charges — telesur
Alberto Nisman: How and why did Argentina prosecutor die? — BBC NEWS
Death of a Prosecutor — The New Yorker
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On This Day — Argentina Prosecutor Alberto Nisman Is ‘Suicided’ (December 5 1963 – January 18 2015) [UPDATE : U.S. Attorney Announces Terrorism Charges Against High-Ranking Hizballah Member]
Intel Today 