A Baghdad court has sentenced a British tourist to 15 years in prison for taking pottery shards from the archaeological site of an ancient city in southeast Iraq.
Jim Fitton, a 66-year-old retired geologist, was convicted of trying to smuggle artifacts out of the country after his arrest at Baghdad airport with several fragments and stones in his luggage.
The British citizen and his family have maintained he did not know this was illegal and that the shards were in an open, unguarded location when he picked them up.
The ruling on Monday shook Fitton's family, and his lawyer told reporters he would appeal.
“We could not be more heartbroken and shellshocked,” his daughter, Leila, wrote in an online petition for his release, describing the sentence as a “horrific injustice.”
“We are suspending our emotional reactions in favour of positive action to get Jim home,” the statement from his family added.
Along with a tour group visiting Iraq earlier this year, Fitton went to the archaeological site of Eridu, part of the remains of Sumerian cities in ancient Mesopotamia.
His family has urged the British government to intervene and endorse the appeal.
The British Foreign Office said Tuesday in an email that it was “in contact with the local authorities” but did not respond to questions about the verdict or about whether Fitton could serve the sentence in his home country instead of Iraq.
“We are providing consular assistance to a British national in Iraq, and continue to support his family,” it said.
Under a 2002 heritage law in Iraq, looting artifacts can lead to a prison sentence of seven to 15 years, while stealing antiquities by force with weapons or in a group is punishable by the death penalty.
The country, home to the proverbial cradle of civilization, has seen a push to recover thousands of ancient artifacts that were plundered in the two decades since the US invasion — many of which ended up in museums and personal collections in the United States and around the world.
The neglect of archaeological sites, lack of funds and corruption later enabled further looting, while Islamic State militants notoriously destroyed and smuggled antiquities when they held territory in Iraq.
Last year, the United States handed back more than 17,000 smuggled artifacts, as the Iraqi culture minister praised international efforts to stop smugglers and return looted possessions.
The Washington Post