British man sentenced to 15 years in prison in Iraq for smuggling antiquities

An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced a British geologist to 15 years in prison for trying to smuggle antiquities from the country, while acquitting a German who was on trial in the same case.

When reading the verdict, the judge pointed out that the punishment stipulated in the law for which the British geologist James Fitton (66 years) was convicted is "death by hanging", but decided to reduce it to "15 years imprisonment because of the advanced age of the accused."

On the other hand, the judiciary decided to "cancel the charge" against German psychiatrist Volkar Weldmann, 60, "for insufficient evidence", and accordingly the court ordered his "release immediately."

The two men appeared before the Karkh court in Baghdad, wearing the uniforms of yellow prisoners in Iraq.

The two accused confirmed their innocence when the judge asked them a question about whether they were guilty of smuggling antiquities?

It is a crime whose punishment, according to the Iraqi Heritage and Antiquities Law, in its article 41, amounts to the death penalty for anyone “who deliberately removed archaeological material from Iraq or attempted to remove it.”

After the two lawyers read out their arguments before the judge acquitting the two men of the charge, the judge decided that Fitton was guilty of the crime, while Waldman was acquitted.

Thaer Masoud, Fayton's lawyer, said that the verdict was very aggravating and shocking to him, and that his client would appeal the verdict before the Court of Appeal within two days on the basis that there was no criminal intent.

The Court of Cassation may decide to cancel, reduce or maintain it.

The British and German defendants as they entered the courtroom this morning in the yellow uniform (Reuters)

criminal intent

The lawyer had considered in his pleas before the judge that the available evidence denies the existence of "criminal intent" on the part of his client, most notably the "scattered pieces" on the ground.

He pointed to the absence of "warning signs" at the site, warning tourists not to pick up plots of land, as well as "not fencing off" the site, "there was the impression that they could be picked up."

He also pointed out that "the escorts of the Antiquities and Heritage Authority did not warn my clients not to pick up the pieces."

The lawyer added that his client "voluntarily stayed with the seized items" after they were found in his possession at Baghdad Airport, considering that this confirms his lack of intention to commit a crime.

He also pointed out that "the seized pieces are broken pottery and stones, and not complete pieces, as the law stipulates" to criminalize their expulsion from the country.

However, in his ruling, the judge considered that Fitton was “aware and aware that the site is archaeological” when he picked up the pieces, considering that the defense’s argument that there was no “criminal intent” in the process of removing the pieces “does not negate the evidence” in the judiciary’s possession of the existence of a crime punishable by law.

He believed that Fuitton's knowledge that the site is archaeological means "the availability of criminal intent."

At the first session of their trial, Weldmann, a Berlin-based psychiatrist, said in his testimony that "there was no indication that these objects were antiquities and that they should not be taken."

"I didn't realize it was against the law to take these pieces," said Fitton, a retired geologist who lives in Malaysia.

The Fitton family says that he picked up the pieces of stones from the famous archaeological site of Eridu in southern Iraq, thinking that the broken pieces of stones "have no economic or historical value."

The two suspects were arrested at Baghdad International Airport on March 20. The Briton was carrying 10 antiques in his bag, mostly ceramic and pottery shards, while the German had two pieces that he said his companion on the flight handed them to him.

They arrived in Iraq on an organized tourist trip since the sixth of the same month and did not know each other before that.

Iraq, which was historically the cradle of Mesopotamian civilizations such as the Sumerian and Babylonian, contains many ancient monuments, some of which still exist today.

These antiquities are exposed to theft and smuggling, while the Iraqi law is very strict regarding these crimes.

Iraq has recently become a destination that attracts foreign tourists, but it still lacks many of the necessary infrastructure.