A 66-year-old Briton found guilty of antiquities trafficking in Iraq.

James Fitton, a retired British geologist, was sentenced on Monday June 6 to 15 years in prison by a Baghdad court.

His co-defendant, Volker Waldmann, a 60-year-old German psychologist, was acquitted.

The two men had come to Iraq on an organized trip in March.

They were arrested on March 20 at Baghdad airport with pieces of stone, fragments of broken pottery and ancient ceramics in their luggage.

Iraq, the ancient Mesopotamia which notably housed the empire of Akkad and the ancient city of Babylon, fears for its archaeological heritage, the remains of which are the subject of juicy traffic, and very severely represses any attempt by tamper with or improperly appropriate any antique piece.

The sentence for the crime committed by James Fitton "is death by hanging", but the court decided to "reduce the sentence to 15 years in prison because of the advanced age of the accused", the judge said in the verdict.

James Fitton's lawyer said he would appeal the decision.

On the other hand, the court did not find "sufficient evidence" to convict Volker Waldmann who was acquitted and allowed to return home.

The two men appeared unhandcuffed before the Al-Karkh criminal court in Baghdad but dressed in the yellow combination of prisoners in Iraq, according to an AFP journalist present at the hearing.

When the judge asked them if they considered themselves "guilty or not guilty of trafficking in antiquities", they each answered: "not guilty".

James Fitton and Volker Waldmann were in Iraq on an organized trip and did not know each other before this excursion.

James Fitton's luggage contained ten fragments of stones, shards of broken pottery or ceramics.

Volker Waldmann was in possession of two pieces which were given to him, according to him, by his traveling companion.

"Criminal Intent"

The judge found in his verdict that James Fitton was "aware" that the site on which he collected these fragments was "an archaeological site" and that it is "illegal" to appropriate them.

He concluded that "criminal intent" did exist, which defense attorney Thaer Massoud denied.

For Me Massoud, this judgment is "extreme".

In the case of Volker Waldmann, the justice recognized, as his lawyer argued, that the accused was unaware that the pieces given by James Fitton were antiques.

At the start of their trial in May, the two men invoked their good faith, saying they were unaware that the pieces in their possession could be considered antiques.

They were appearing under a 2002 law regulating heritage and antiquities, which provides for up to the death penalty for anyone found guilty of “intentionally removing or attempting to remove an antiquity from Iraq”.

Iraqi antiquities have been looted for decades thanks to the many conflicts that the country has experienced, particularly after the American invasion of 2003, then the arrival of jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group in 2014, who committed to this traffic to replenish their coffers.

After decades of conflict and looting, Iraq is timidly opening up to world tourism and welcomes, despite almost non-existent tourist infrastructure, Western travellers.

With AFP

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