Malki’s killer not publicly raised with Jordanian king

The father of an Australian teenager murdered in the 2001 Sbarro pizzeria bombing says he is hugely disappointed that the case of his daughter’s killer was not publicly raised during King Abdullah II’s visit to Canberra this week.

Malki Roth, 15, was among 16 people killed when a Hamas suicide bomber detonated explosives packed with nails and bolts inside the crowded Jerusalem restaurant on August 9, 2001. Seven of the dead were children. Ahlam Tamimi, who scouted the location and escorted the bomber, was sentenced to 16 life terms in Israel, released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, and has since lived openly in Amman.

She has faced US terrorism charges since 2013 over the deaths of American nationals, including Malki, who held dual citizenship, and is the sole female on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list. Jordan has refused to extradite her.

Arnold Roth told News24’s Andrew Bolt that his daughter’s name went unmentioned throughout the state visit. “I’m not privy to the whispers any more than you are,” Roth said. “But is it disappointing? Of course, it’s hugely disappointing. I should also say that I’ve grown accustomed to this kind of disappointment at multiple levels.”

He was critical of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, saying he had made several requests over the past decade and received “the same factually wrong, disingenuous answers each time”.