The father of a 15-year-old girl killed in a deadly Jerusalem blast in 2001 has lambasted the “deplorable” decision apparently taken to drop the terrorist ”monster” responsible from Interpol’s “Red Notice” most wanted list.
Arnold Roth’s daughter Malki, an American citizen, was one of 15 people killed in a suicide bomb attack at a pizza restaurant on August 9, 2001, which injured as many as 130 others.
Jordanian national Ahlam al-Tamimi was sentenced to 16 life terms in Israel for her role in the attack, but was released and returned to Jordan as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in 2011.
She remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.
Arab media sources have cited a letter, reportedly from Interpol and dated 8 March, stating that al-Tamimi was “as of today…not subject to an Interpol Notice or diffusion.”
Speaking to the JC, Mr Roth said: “It is distressing for us in the extreme…wherever she goes now, she is as anonymous as any other traveller.
“There is nothing that triggers a warning on the screen of the border, police or immigration officials and so on, which there was until now.”
He added: “So anything that restores her life to normal circumstances in my eyes is unjust, and deplorable. She is a monster. She’s not a monster because her politics are different from mine. She’s a monster because her entire life since 2001 has been dedicated to promoting the idea that what she did, killing innocent people, mostly children, is good, it’s what God wants, and everybody else should do the same.
“That’s appalling. The fact that she’s still free, still allowed by Jordan to do essentially anything she wants including develop a spectacular career as a celebrity, is amoral and deeply, deeply illogical and offensive.”
Al-Tamimi has hosted a television show in Jordan, where she is well-known.
Seven children and one pregnant woman were among the lives claimed by the suicide bomber.
According to the FBI, “An affidavit in support of al-Tamimi’s criminal complaint and a warrant for her arrest were sworn out under seal on July 15, 2013, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., and were made public on March 14, 2017.”
The force is offering a reward of up to $5 million “for information that leads to the arrest or conviction” of al-Tamimi, who it says “should be considered armed and dangerous.”
Interpol issues Red Notices, it says, “for fugitives wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence. This follows judicial proceedings in the country issuing the request. This is not always the home country of the individual, but the country where the crime was committed.”
Individuals on the list are “wanted by a country or international tribunal”, and are “used to simultaneously alert police in all our member countries about internationally wanted fugitives. Police in other countries can then be on the watch for them and use the Red Notice to support extradition proceedings.”
When contacted about al-Tamimi, a spokesperson for Interpol said: “If or when police in any of Interpol’s 194 member countries share information with the General Secretariat in Lyon in relation to investigations and individuals, this information remains under the ownership of that member country.
“Interpol does not therefore comment on specific cases or individuals except in special circumstances and with the approval of the member country concerned. Please note that Interpol does not conduct investigations itself, or issue arrest warrants.”
The spokesperson would not confirm or deny that al-Tamimi had been removed from the Red Notice list.
According to a US Congressional Research Service report, the United States believes it has an extradition treaty with Jordan, which came into force on July 29, 1995. US officials filed an extradition request for al-Tamimi in 2017 but, according to the report, “Jordan’s Court of Cassation ruled that the extradition treaty was invalid.”
