Iraqi judge sentences British geologist to 15 years in prison for trying to take pottery shards home

BAGDAT (AP) – An Iraqi court sentenced a British citizen on Monday to 15 years in prison for smuggling artifacts out of the country in a case that has caught international attention.

The decision of retired geologist Jim Fitton shocked the Baghdad court along with his lawyer. He and his family claim that Fitton, 66, had no criminal intent.

“At worst, I thought it was a year of suspension,” Tahir Sood, Fitton’s openly shocked attorney, told The Associated Press.

It was determined that the German citizen, who was tried together with Fitton, did not have any criminal intent in the case and would be released.

However, Judge Jabir Abd Jabir found that Fitton had criminal intent to smuggle them, taking items that were over 200 years old and had the intent to smuggle them out of the country, according to a government technical investigation.

The judge ignored the Court’s arguments that Fitton did not know the laws of Iraq and the value of the items he presented. Fitton and German national Volker Waldmann were arrested at Baghdad airport on March 20, after airport security found items in their luggage. They were part of a tourist expedition to ancient parts of the country.

Her family was alarmed when Fitton’s daughter, Layla, missed a scheduled flight on March 20 to fly back to Kuala Lumpur, where she lives with her husband, Layla told AP last month. A cell at the airport where he was detained.

The case gained attention when her family, frustrated by the British Foreign Office’s blatant inaction to intervene and assist in Fitton’s case, launched a petition that garnered more than 100,000 signatures. The British diplomatic mission in Baghdad did not comment on its involvement in the case.

According to Fitton’s family, Iraqi officials found 12 pottery and other fragments from Fitton, all collected as souvenirs, during a group tourist trip to Eridu, an ancient Mesopotamian site in what is now Dhi Qar province.

Waldman’s defense team said the German hiker carried items for Fitton, but did not pick them up from the scene. Both men were charged with smuggling under the country’s antiquities laws and were likely sentenced to death. But officials said this is only a remote possibility.

The court said it plans to appeal the decision immediately. It is unclear whether Fitton will be able to serve his sentence in his home country, which would require a bilateral agreement between Iraq and Britain.