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A 66-year-old British tourist has been sentenced to 15 years in an Iraqi jail for attempting to smuggle archaeological artefacts out of the country.

However, retired geologist James Fitton said that the site he visited was open and unguarded, and he did not know about the law that criminalised the theft of the stones and shards of pottery he took.

Visited ancient Sumerian site

The New York Times (NYT) reported that Fitton joined a British-based tour group who visited Iraq in March 2022.

They visited Eridu in the south of Iraq, a Sumerian archaeological site.

While touring Eridu, which like many of Iraq's dig sites is unexcavated and unguarded, Fitton picked up some stones and shards of pottery to keep as souvenirs.

Fitton was detained after airport security discovered 12 stones and pottery shards in his luggage while he was about to board a plane out of Iraq.

A 2002 law makes it illegal to steal artefacts or antiquities, with a sentence of seven to 15 years.

"Looting" antiquities with weapons or other people is punishable by death.

Fitton plans to appeal the sentence. His defence lawyer, Thair Soud, pointed out that Fitton had made no attempt to conceal the shards, instead wrapping them up in tissue paper and placing them in his luggage.

Soud added that he was "extremely surprised" by the harshness of the sentence and pointed out that the shards had no commercial value.

Iraqi government trying to recover lost cultural heritage, but had no input in Fitton's sentence

In August 2021, CNN reported that the U.S. had returned 17,000 smuggled artefacts back to Iraq, after they found their way onto the open market.

Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein said then that the Iraqi government would "spare no effort" to recover its lost cultural heritage.

NYT cited an interview with Iraq's culture minister Hassan Nadhem where he said the government had no input in Fitton's sentence, but said it supported legal action against anyone attempting to "steal and smuggle" artifacts.

The BBC interviewed Fitton's son-in-law, James Tasker, who called the sentence "unjust" and said Fitton was focused on making sure there is enough money to support his wife and family who are living in Malaysia.

Top image from Change.org.