An Iraqi court has overturned the conviction and 15-year sentence handed to a British pensioner in June for smuggling ancient shards out of Iraq, the retiree's lawyer said Tuesday. 
 
James Fitton had been convicted under a 2002 law against "intentionally taking or trying to take out of Iraq an antiquity," the maximum penalty for which is death by hanging.  

Read more: Iraq sentences UK geologist to 15 years for smuggling artifacts
 
Today, the conviction has been overturned by the Court of Cassation, and "my client will soon be free", Fitton's lawyer Thaer Saoud told AFP. 
 
In a phone call, the retiree's son-in-law, Sam Tasker, told AFP that the family was "very pleased by the decision, but we are still waiting for his release."  
 
Fitton stood trial together with German national Volker Waldmann, who was acquitted. Both accused had pleaded not guilty. 
 
Statements by customs officers and witnesses say that Fitton's baggage contained about a dozen stone fragments, pieces of pottery, or ceramics. 

When the judge in the original trial asked Fitton why he tried to take the artifacts out of Iraq, the retired geologist claimed it was his "hobby" but did not mean to do anything illegal. 
  
"I didn't realize that taking them was against the law," Fitton had claimed, adding that some of the sites were open and unsupervised. 
 
The judge in the original trial deduced there was criminal intent and sentenced him to 15 years, rather than death, because of his "advanced age". 

Fitton's lawyer published Tuesday on his Facebook page the judgment that had been handed down by the Court of Cassation, overturning the original verdict. 
 
The post revealed that the charge had been canceled and that he would be freed for lack of evidence. The court also ruled that there had been no "criminal intent" on the Briton's part, the lawyer said, adding that his client would be released "in the next few days, as soon as the proceedings are completed". 

Iraq safeguarding archaeological heritage 

The Fitton case comes at a time when the country's tourism infrastructure is almost non-existent and is tentatively opening to visitors and trying to safeguard its archaeological heritage amid a rampant market for smuggled artifacts. 
  
A great deal of Iraq's ancient cultural heritage has been looted for decades because of the many wars the country has suffered, particularly after the 2003 US-led aggression that ousted Saddam Hussein.