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A retired British geologist may face the loss of life penalty in Iraq after he allegedly tried to smuggle historic artifacts in a foreign country. He’ll stand trial earlier than Iraq’s Felony Court docket this Sunday, Might 15, in accordance with the Related Press.
Jim Fitton, who now lives in Malaysia, was on an archaeological tourism journey close to Eridu within the Dhi Qar province. Eridu, an historic Sumerian metropolis referenced in mythology because the civilization’s oldest, was inhabited from round 5,000 to 600 BCE.
Fitton has been in custody since March 20, when Iraqi officers discovered 12 small shards of pottery in his baggage on the Baghdad airport. In response to a Change.org petition began by Fitton’s two youngsters and son-in-law, which has obtained virtually 270,000 signatures, the statutory punishment for smuggling historic artifacts out of Iraq is execution. (Fitton’s authorized crew has stated it believes this end result is unlikely.)
Thair Soud, Fitton’s Iraqi lawyer, beforehand tried to shut the case earlier than it reached trial on the grounds that it could harm Iraq’s rising vacationer financial system. Now, Soud might want to show in courtroom that Fitton didn’t have any legal intent. Fitton’s youngsters instructed the BBC that he didn’t know the objects have been traditionally important.
Wera Hobhouse, Fitton’s consultant within the British Parliament, introduced the case to the eye of the British authorities weeks in the past. “It’s an absolute travesty for Jim and his household that the International Workplace has refused to get entangled regardless of the household’s lawyer advising that an intervention would make a distinction on this case,” Hobhouse instructed the Guardian on Might 5. “This can be a life-or-death state of affairs.”
In a parliament assembly on Wednesday, Might 11, Hobhouse once more raised Jim Fitton’s case.
“He’s sitting in a cell in Iraq, he has missed his daughter’s wedding ceremony, and he doubtlessly faces the loss of life penalty. His household are frightened sick,” Hobhouse stated, once more urging the British authorities to intervene.
James Cleverly, minister of state for Europe and North America, said, “We can’t, after all, intrude or search to intrude with the judicial technique of one other nation, simply as we might not count on interference in our personal judicial course of,” including that employees from the British consulate in Iraq had visited Fitton 4 instances.
A number of different members of the parliament continued to press Cleverly on what the overseas ministry was doing to assist Fitton, however his solutions remained obscure.
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