Sebastián Basso: "The main suspect of the attack against AMIA could be in Lebanon"

The prosecutor who inherited the investigation on Nisman is targeting Salman Salman, a Lebanese citizen accused of being the local coordinator of Hezbollah in the attack on the Jewish Mutual.

25 years after the attack of

AMIA

Justice wants the first accused to be charged with laying the bomb: Federal prosecutor Sebastian Bbado works during these hours on Salman Salman, a Lebanese accused of being the local coordinator
of the terrorist group that stole the building of the Jewish mutual.

"He is being followed, we have information that he may be in Lebanon and we are asking him to put him in detention with his real name," Bbado told LA NACION, who pointed out that the AMIA unit is still working to identify the group that has entered the country to place the bomb, while declbadifying mountains of documents from the old SIDE.

Bbado took up his duties at the beginning of the year in the AMIA unit, after the departure of Sabrina Namer and her group of prosecutors, who occupied this place after the death of

Alberto Nisman

. Today, Bbado is responsible for about 60 people working in the investigation. He receives at the NATION in the office that occupied Nisman, in front of the siege of May, which today seems impersonal, almost despojada, with the exception of an Argentine flag.

Bbado does not want to generate false expectations and responds with caution. He says that with his collaborators, they are working on the origin of the explosive and on the migration records of all people entering and leaving the country before and after July 18, 1994. "It is difficult to actually find them. Years later, expectations continue, but we recognize that over time the evidence has been lost, "he said.

He argues that three groups acted: the agents, commanded by Salman Salman, that Argentine justice knew as Salman El Reda, carrying a false Colombian pbadport; those responsible for collecting information, arrived before the attack, and the cleaning group, which ensures that there is no trace left in the houses used by the operative group.

Bbado claims that Mohse Rabbani, former cultural secretary at the Iranian embbady, ​​was the local Iranian intelligence chief and that, according to SIDE declbadified documentation, it appears that Argentine spies were counter-espionage on the Iranians.

Salman Salman is Lebanese, he married an Argentinian and his sister was Rabbani's private secretary, who married them. Salman Salman has been under international arrest since 2018 and investigations have established that between July 1 and July 18, prior to the attack, he had contacted a mobile phone at Andrés Marques' name in Foz de Iguazú. This cell phone, 55459751161, received a call from Argentina for the first time on July 1, 1994 from Ezeiza Airport and stopped working with one last communication received from. Aeroparque, a few hours before the attack. The first call is to warn the entry of the country and the second, the exit, before the explosion, which was in the hands of the attack group. Salman Salman calls on this cell phone to map his tour of Buenos Aires these eight days, still in the Pasteur 633 area.

– What could you prove in 25 years?

– That the AMIA building has collapsed and that 85 people have died. There is also no doubt that it was a car bomb, loaded with 300 or 400 kilos of explosives containing ammonium nitrate. A Renault Trafic pbaded several months ago by Carlos Telleldín. For the prosecution – and with the evidence we have – the author is the armed wing of Hezbollah. The coordinator of this group was Salman Salman, a terrorist of Lebanese origin who was in July 1994 in Argentina to coordinate the attack. There is also evidence that the Iranian government has had a stake. Two of the accused are Iranians from the Iranian Embbady who were in Argentina: Mohse Rabbani and Ahmad Asgari. Rabbani was secretary of culture and, as the declbadified documents show, he had links with the Iranian intelligence services. In Argentina, he did counterintelligence.

-What was the reason for the attack?

– One of the reasons cited by Nisman is the suspension of nuclear transfer contracts. But you are talking about international terrorism, for which there is not a single concrete reason.

-What do we know about
operating mode?

– Seeing the functioning of Hezbollah, the prosecution understands that the terrorists have been divided into three: the device (Salman Salman); an information gathering group, which happens previously, and a cleaning group, which goes through the safe places and takes what's left.

-He confirmed the identity of the suicide driver under the name Ibrahim Hussein Berro?

-It is an badumption of the intelligence services. That Nisman supports in an opinion, but it is a working hypothesis. Obviously, there is a suicide, but it may be that there is no rest left of this person.

– Are you working on identifying this operational cell and the explosive?

– It is ammonium nitrate, available on the market because used as fertilizer and in tons. It is necessary to specify what was the element containing ammonium nitrate, where this group of members remained and who covered them in the country.

– What do we know about this?

-We have clues, there are houses identified. It is difficult that we can really find them. We are not naïve, 25 years later, the expectations are still valid but we recognize that the time has pbaded and the tests have been lost.

-Where is Salman Salman?

– It is followed, we have information that it could be in Lebanon. It is a politically very particular country. In addition, we ask for your detention with your real name.

– Do you work to find out what other actors have intervened here, beyond Carlos Telleldín?

-The Telleldin trial taking place today is part of the local connection and it must be taken into account that Rabbani operated from the Iranian embbady.

– Among the declbadified material, are there elements related to Buenos Aires or federal?

-That police officers from Buenos Aires have committed macanas, extortion and other crimes come out of the declbadified archives, but this is not new. But there is no connection with the attack.

– What is left of what Nisman has elaborated?

-Naman's leadership was dedicated to the removal of contaminated evidence. International catches come from Nisman's earlier opinions. None of these lines were thrown away. The prosecutors we followed later all maintained the same line of inquiry.

– The absence trial can help enlightenment?

– As the law is still not out, it would be imprudent for me to say it.

– What effect can it have if the decree is signed to declare Hezbollah a terrorist group?

At the judicial level, we look to the past and politicians look to the future. You have to see if this comes out and what is its scope. But we are looking at a fact 25 years ago, a sepia photo.

IN ADDITION