British man gets 15 years jail in Iraq for smuggling artefacts
Iraqi authorities arrested James Fitton at Baghdad International Airport in March with small fragments of ancient pottery in his baggage
06 June 2022 - 17:54
byCharlotte Bruneau and Ahmed Rasheed
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James Fitton from Britain and Volker Waldmann from Germany outside a court in Baghdad, Iraq, May 22 2022. Picture: THAIER AL-SUDANI/REUTERS
Baghdad- An Iraqi court sentenced a retired British geologist to 15 years in prison on Monday for trying to smuggle ancient artefacts out of the country, a Reuters reporter and judicial sources said.
Iraqi authorities had arrested James Fitton, 66, at Baghdad International Airport in March for carrying small fragments of ancient pottery in his baggage.
The Baghdad Criminal Court sentenced Fitton for taking the artefacts from a heritage site in southern Iraq and attempting to transport them out of the country “with criminal intent”, according to one judicial source — an offence normally punishable by death under Iraqi law.
Fitton’s lawyer said he was shocked by the verdict, and that Fitton did not know that the pottery fragments were considered artefacts. Fitton will appeal the verdict on the grounds that there was no criminal intent, he said.
A German man arrested alongside Fitton for also taking pottery fragments, Volker Waldmann, was acquitted of the same charges.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
British man gets 15 years jail in Iraq for smuggling artefacts
Iraqi authorities arrested James Fitton at Baghdad International Airport in March with small fragments of ancient pottery in his baggage
Baghdad- An Iraqi court sentenced a retired British geologist to 15 years in prison on Monday for trying to smuggle ancient artefacts out of the country, a Reuters reporter and judicial sources said.
Iraqi authorities had arrested James Fitton, 66, at Baghdad International Airport in March for carrying small fragments of ancient pottery in his baggage.
The Baghdad Criminal Court sentenced Fitton for taking the artefacts from a heritage site in southern Iraq and attempting to transport them out of the country “with criminal intent”, according to one judicial source — an offence normally punishable by death under Iraqi law.
Fitton’s lawyer said he was shocked by the verdict, and that Fitton did not know that the pottery fragments were considered artefacts. Fitton will appeal the verdict on the grounds that there was no criminal intent, he said.
A German man arrested alongside Fitton for also taking pottery fragments, Volker Waldmann, was acquitted of the same charges.
Reuters
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