British geologist jailed in Iraq for removing artefacts from sacred site

A retired British geologist has been jailed for 15 years for attempting to remove artefacts from Iraq.

Jim Fitton, 66, who is originally from Bath, collected 12 stones and shards of broken pottery during a recent geology and archaeology tour of the country.

Mr Fitton has insisted he had no idea he was breaking Iraqi laws.

The family of Mr Fitton said they were “absolutely shattered” and “heartbroken” by the news. They urged the government to help free him.

“For a man of Jim’s age, 15 years in an Iraqi prison is tantamount to a death sentence,” the family added.

“Particularly for such a trivial and dubious crime, a crime Jim was not even aware of when he perpetrated it.

“We are raising an appeal and will continue to fight for Jim’s freedom, and urge the government to support us in every way possible and to open lines of communication with us at a senior level.”

Bath’s Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse said the sentence was “a devastating outcome for Jim and his family”.

“There is now no other option but for the Foreign Secretary to intervene at a ministerial level. The Foreign Secretary must make representations to the Iraqi Government.”

The Foreign Office has previously said it cannot interfere with the judicial process of another country.

Mr Fitton was arrested at Baghdad airport on 20 March alongside German national Volker Waldmann.

He was acquitted of the same charges as Mr Fitton.

According to statements from customs officers and witnesses, Mr Fitton’s baggage contained about a dozen stone fragments, pieces of pottery or ceramics.

Mr Waldmann allegedly had two pieces, but at the trial’s opening on 15 May denied they were his.

Both of the men, dressed in yellow clothing, told the court they were not guilty “of trafficking antiquities”.

When Judge Jabir Abd Jabir asked Mr Fitton why he tried to take the artefacts out of Iraq, he cited his “hobby” and said he did not mean to do anything illegal.

They were charged under a 2002 law against “intentionally taking or trying to take out of Iraq an antiquity”.

Mr Fitton’s sentence appeared to have shocked those in the court, including his defence lawyer.

“I thought the worst case scenario would be one year, with suspension,” Mr Fitton’s lawyer Thair Soud said.

The maximum sentence for removing artefacts is the death penalty.

The court decided to reduce the sentence “because of the advanced age of the accused,” the judge said.

Mr Fitton collected the items as souvenirs while visiting a site in Eridu, in Iraq’s south east.

Image: Middle East Eye

Iraqi officials have said the fragments could be considered as archaeological pieces as they date back more than 200 years.

The Foreign Office has said it cannot interfere with the judicial process of another country and has made clear its opposition to the death penalty.

See more here: bbc.co.uk

Header image: Reuters

Editor’s note: The Iraqi authorities may be more annoyed about where Fitton took the artefacts from rather than that he took them. The site of Eridu is, according to Sumerian myths, nothing less than the Mound of Creation itself, and they erected a shrine there to commemorate the event. Eridu, 12 miles southwest of Ur, is long abandoned & windswept. Little remains visible above ground, save a single earthen mound.

The mound was originally surrounded by a large fresh water lake, stretching for miles all around, which the Sumerians called the Absu, and they named the shrine after it. When European archaeologists excavated the mound in 1946, they uncovered no less than 12 separate places of worship, each built on the ruins of the other, and each more elaborate than its predecessor.

At the lowest level, a tiny chapel was found, surrounded by a reed fence, marking the original Mound of Creation. Today, the arid & desolate landscape makes it hard to believe that 7000 years ago, this was the site of the Garden of Eden. In fact, the word Eden is nothing more than the corruption of the Old Sumerian word ‘edene’, which means the natural landscape.

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Comments (5)

  • Avatar

    Jerry Krause

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    Hi PSI Readers,

    PSI Editors drew our attentions back to (https://principia-scientific.com/investigating-ice-age-floods-that-occurred-in-the-pacific-northwest/). Why? I have no idea but I grab the opportunity to share something I have been pondering.

    Recently a retired pastor and I had a conversation about the first page of Genesis. A problem I have had is that at the same time I literally believe some of which read I do not accept that the ‘days’ are literal days.

    In the article (https://principia-scientific.com/are-we-asking-the-right-questions-about-climate-change/) I asked others to explain the cause of twilight and MattH had replied: “Astronomical twilight is when the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon, or less. Nautical twilight 12 degrees or less. Civil twilight 6 degrees or less.” I had never read about “astronomical twilight” and I ignored it as did Matt and anyone else who might have been reading this other conversation. Now I see “Astronomical twilight could be quite important and this importance has nothing to due with what I was pondering when I began to compose this statement. The important fact is there is evidence of clouds at the top of mesosphere..

    Back to the pastor and our conversation. I went to Genesis 1: 2 NIV. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”. Then in verse 3 God begins creating and the first thing God creates is light. Then in verse 6 I read: “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” Hence, I conclude (believe) that God never created water and any other matter. But He did move it about.

    The pastor had stated that, as he reasoned, he liked to start with the big picture and fill in the details later. I see that verses 1 and 2 are the big picture and what follows are the details. I have pondered what is this LIGHT God created.

    Suddenly I now see we need to go back to the big picture: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1: 1 NIV); to ask: Why do I (we) generally consider our earth and our sun were created before the heavens we see??? For the first light could have been the light of the stars we see in the heavens.

    Have a good day, Jerry

    Reply

    • Avatar

      Mark Tapley

      |

      It is clear Jerry that the account in Genesis refers to 24 hour days.
      “And there was evening, and there was morning” (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31), and as Moses stated, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them”

      God could have merely spoken the world into existence but he used six days to demonstrate this as his crowning achievement.

      Man became spiritually separated from God so Christ was sent (as planned from the beginning) to become a propitiation for sin: Romans 5:12-19
      12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
      13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
      14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
      15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
      16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
      17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
      18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
      19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

      Reply

    • Avatar

      Jerry Krause

      |

      Hi Howdy,

      I repeat: “Why do I (we) generally consider our earth and our sun were created before the heavens we see????

      Have a good day, Jerry

      Reply

  • Avatar

    Howdy

    |

    Cart before the horse, so I don’t.

    Reply

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