British man given 15-year jail sentence in Iraq for smuggling artefacts

euronews.com:

A British citizen was sentenced Monday by an Iraqi court to 15 years in prison on charges of attempting to smuggle artefacts out of the country, in a case that has attracted international attention.

The verdict handed down to retired geologist Jim Fitton, shocked the court in Baghdad, including his defence attorney. He and his family have argued that Fitton, 66, had no criminal intent.

“I thought the worst case scenario would be one year, with suspension,” Fitton’s lawyer Thair Soud, visibly shocked, told The Associated Press.

A German national tried with Fitton was found not to have criminal intent in the case and will be released.

But Judge Jabir Abd Jabir found that by picking up the items, found to be artefacts dating older than 200 years, according to a technical government investigation, and intending to transport them out of the country, Fitton had criminal intent to smuggle them.

The trial has grabbed international attention at a time when Iraq seeks to open up its nascent tourism sector. 

The two men first appeared in court on May 15 wearing yellow detainees' uniforms, telling judges they had not acted with criminal intent and had no idea they might have broken local laws.

Fitton said he “suspected” the items he collected were ancient fragments, but that “at the time I didn’t know about Iraqi laws,” or that taking the shards was not permitted. Fitton said as a geologist he was in the habit of collecting such fragments as a hobby and had no intention to sell them.

The judge, however, did not consider Soud’s arguments that laid out Fitton’s ignorance of Iraqi laws and the value of the items he picked up. Fitton and the German national, Volker Waldman, were arrested at Baghdad's airport on March 20 after airport security