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A 66-year-old British tourist has been sentenced to 15 years in an Iraqi jail for attempting to smuggle archaeological artefacts out of the country.
However, retired geologist James Fitton said that the site he visited was open and unguarded, and he did not know about the law that criminalised the theft of the stones and shards of pottery he took.
Visited ancient Sumerian site
The New York Times (NYT) reported that Fitton joined a British-based tour group who visited Iraq in March 2022.
They visited Eridu in the south of Iraq, a Sumerian archaeological site.
While touring Eridu, which like many of Iraq's dig sites is unexcavated and unguarded, Fitton picked up some stones and shards of pottery to keep as souvenirs.
Fitton was detained after airport security discovered 12 stones and pottery shards in his luggage while he was about to board a plane out of Iraq.
A 2002 law makes it illegal to steal artefacts or antiquities, with a sentence of seven to 15 years.
"Looting" antiquities with weapons or other people is punishable by death.
Fitton plans to appeal the sentence. His defence lawyer, Thair Soud, pointed out that Fitton had made no attempt to conceal the shards, instead wrapping them up in tissue paper and placing them in his luggage.
Soud added that he was "extremely surprised" by the harshness of the sentence and pointed out that the shards had no commercial value.
https://mothership.sg/2022/06/uk-tourist-jail-iraq-dig-site/
