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Send the ICC to Argentina

(National Post-Canada) Gerald M. Steinberg - Like the UN and other global bodies that are founded with good intentions, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was quickly exploited to promote partisan agendas. If there is a clear justification for the ICC, however, it is the case of Alberto Nisman, the Argentinean prosecutor murdered on Jan. 18. Nisman became the central investigator of the horrific 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 and injured 300. He was killed the night before he was scheduled to testify and expose the top officials in Argentina who covered up the role of senior Iranians in the bombing. In 2006, Nisman brought indictments in absentia against seven Iranians and one Hizbullah member. He presented evidence that Mohsen Rabbani, the former Iranian cultural attache in Argentina, was responsible for coordinating the AMIA attack. The evidence also implicated Hassan Rouhani, now the president of Iran, as a member of the committee that ordered and planned the attack. For 20 years, Argentina's legal system demonstrated that it is incapable of bringing the perpetrators to justice. It is precisely for cases like this that the ICC was designed - in situations where national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute the perpetrators of "crimes against humanity." The writer is professor of international politics at Bar-Ilan University and president of NGO Monitor.
2015-02-25 00:00:00
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