BAGHDAD: An Iraqi court has overturned the conviction and 15-year sentence handed to a British pensioner last month for antiquities smuggling, the retiree’s lawyer said Tuesday.
The conviction of James Fitton has been “overturned today by the Court of Cassation and my client will soon be free,” lawyer Thaer Saoud told AFP.
“We are very pleased by the decision, but we are still waiting for his release,” his son-in-law, Sam Tasker, told AFP in a phone call.
Fitton had been charged under a 2002 law against “intentionally taking or trying to take out of Iraq an antiquity.”
He stood trial alongside German national Volker Waldmann, who was acquitted. Both men had pleaded not guilty.
According to statements from customs officers and witnesses, 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 artefacts out of Iraq, the retired geologist cited his “hobby” and said he did not mean to do anything illegal. But the judge concluded there was criminal intent.
The maximum penalty for the offense is death by hanging, but Fitton was sentenced to 15 years because of his “advanced age,” the judge in the original trial said.
Fitton’s lawyer launched the appeal just over a month ago.
The case comes at a time when the war-ravaged country, whose tourism infrastructure is almost non-existent, is tentatively opening to visitors.
Iraq to free Briton jailed in antiquities case: lawyer
https://arab.news/9cann
Iraq to free Briton jailed in antiquities case: lawyer
- "We are very pleased by the decision, but we are still waiting for his release," his son-in-law told AFP
- Fitton had been charged under a 2002 law against "intentionally taking or trying to take out of Iraq an antiquity"
German parliament speaker visits Gaza
- Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest supporters as the European power seeks to atone for the legacy of the Holocaust
BERLIN: The speaker of Germany’s lower house of parliament briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the body told AFP.
Julia Kloeckner spent “about an hour in the part of Gaza controlled by Israeli army forces,” parliament said, becoming the first German official to visit the territory since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 that sparked the devastating war.
Since the start of the conflict, Israel has drastically restricted access to the densely populated coastal strip.
In a statement shared by her office, Kloeckner said it was essential for politicians to have access to “reliable assessments of the situation” in Gaza.
“I expressly welcome the fact that Israel has now, for the first time, granted me, a parliamentary observer, access to the Gaza Strip,” she said.
However, she was only able to gain a “limited insight” into the situation on the ground during her trip, she said.
Kloeckner appealed to Israel to “continue on this path of openness” and emphasized that the so-called yellow line, which designates Israeli military zones inside the Gaza Strip, must “not become a permanent barrier.”
The German foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.
Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest supporters as the European power seeks to atone for the legacy of the Holocaust.
But in recent months, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has occasionally delivered sharp critiques of Israeli policy as German public opinion turns against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
In August, Germany imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel, which was lifted in November after the announcement of what has proved to be a fragile ceasefire for Gaza.
Merz visited Israel in December and reaffirmed Germany’s support.
But in a sign of lingering tension, Germany’s foreign ministry on Wednesday criticized Israeli plans to tighten control over the occupied West Bank as a step toward “de facto annexation.”
