British Man Accused of Smuggling Iraqi Artifacts Faces Death Penalty – RisePEI

A British vacationer might face the loss of life penalty in Iraq after being accused of smuggling artifacts overseas.

Jim Fitton, a former geologist, collected stone fragments and shards of damaged pottery as souvenirs throughout an archaeological tour of Eridu, an historic Sumerian metropolis in southern Iraq. He was arrested on the airport on March 20 after the luggage belonging to the tour group was searched. A German vacationer who was additionally a part of the tour was apprehended on the airport.

Underneath Iraqi legislation, the intentional worldwide export of any gadgets decided to be cultural heritage is “punishable with execution”.

Fitton’s members of the family, who reside in Malaysia, instructed the BBC that the fragments had been “within the open, unguarded and with no signage warning towards removing”. The tour leaders additionally collected shards and inspired the vacationers to do the identical, the household stated.

The Fittons at the moment are petitioning the British authorities to intervene within the trial, which is ready to start Could 7.  Fitton’s lawyer has drafted a proposal for the case to be dropped, the household instructed the BBC, nonetheless the plan wants the endorsement of the British Overseas Workplace to be introduced to a high-ranking judiciary in Iraq.

British Overseas Workplace minister Amanda Milling stated in an announcement that the company has responded to Fitton’s case.

“We perceive the urgency of the case, and have already raised our issues with the Iraqi authorities concerning the doable imposition of the loss of life penalty in Mr Fitton’s case and the UK’s opposition to the loss of life penalty in all circumstances as a matter of precept,” the assertion stated.

Town of Eridu was possible based round 5400 BC within the once-lush southern marshlands of the Euphrates River, identified regionally because the Ahwar. (The aquatic area was largely drained between 1950 and the Nineteen Seventies for agriculture and oil drilling.) It was thought of the primary metropolis on the planet by the Sumerians and inside Sumerian mythology served because the earthly kingdom of the gods. It was occupied between the fifth and 2nd millennium and reached the zenith of its affect within the 4th millennium.

The final structure of Eridu is one giant mound comprised of 18 layers of settlements — mudbrick temples, houses, and different constructions constructed over the ruins of older inhabitants for some 3,000 years. Immediately, most vacationers go to Eridu’s well-preserved temples, or ziggurats, probably the most well-known being the Ziggurat of Enki.

The Ahwar of Southern Iraq, which incorporates Eridu and the Sumerian cities Uruk and Ur, was added to the World Heritage Checklist in 2016.

Almost 100,000 individuals have signed a petition calling for Fitton’s launch. In an announcement, his household known as the response to the marketing campaign “unbelievable” and thanked the help “from previous colleagues, good pals, kindred spirits, and full strangers who haven’t allowed this to go unnoticed.”