Jim Fitton, 66, hoped for short suspended sentence after collecting fragments during archaeology tour
Lawyers for a British geologist handed a 15-year sentence by an Iraqi judge after being convicted of smuggling antiquities will immediately appeal against the shock verdict, which has left his family “stunned”.
“Jim is the last person you would ever expect to be accused of something like this. He is hugely well-travelled, especially in the Middle East, for work and pleasure. He is the most respectful man when it comes to other cultures or history, it is the most ironic crime he could possibly be charged with.”
Fitton was transferred to a police station near Baghdad airport after the verdict. His co-accused, German national Volker Waldmann, was found not guilty and is expected to be released. The pair had been in prison since 20 March when artefacts were found in their bags as they were leaving Baghdad airport.
Soud said the law had been applied wrongly to Fitton’s case and had instead been meant to safeguard wilful theft of items of real value. “These [items found on Fitton] are the types of things that you can find in a desert abandoned and without a fence, warning signs, protection or security. If they even had the value of one Iraqi dinar, you couldn’t find a single item, because they would have been all collected and sold.