Iraq sentences UK geologist to 15 years for smuggling artifacts

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On March 20, Volker Waldmann, a Berlin psychologist, and James Fitton, a retired geologist from the UK, were arrested at Baghdad airport when they were caught with ancient pottery shards in their luggage.

They were charged under the law, the sentences of which can reach the death penalty, if the accused party was found to be guilty of intentionally taking or trying to take antiquity out of Iraq.

The 66-year-old Fitton was sentenced on Monday to 15 years in prison for the act. Fitton told the court on May 22 that he was unaware of the historical value of these objects, but an Iraqi judge ruled that he had criminal intent.

Waldmann was acquitted, having told the court that the objects did not belong to him. "I never possessed any of these items," Waldmann told the court, saying they belonged to Fitton.      

"We were visiting the ancient sites and he found them and gave them to me." In other statements translated from German, he said he placed the pieces in a "transparent bag" and never tried to hide them.    

A petition that asked the UK cabinet to intervene collected more than 280,000 signatures. The British ambassador in Iraq raised the case four times with Iraqi authorities so far.

The two were arrested while trying to smuggle 12 Sumerian archeological objects from the airport.