He now finds himself between Iraq and a hard place.
I’ll just steal these pieces of pottery from a country in not from and take them back to Britain on a whim. There is no historical trend related to this
> The judge did not consider Soud’s arguments that laid out Fitton’s ignorance of Iraqi laws
Too right.
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.
**Stealing***
Considering that smuggling artefacts is a capital offence in Iraq and he could well have been executed, 15 years is quite lenient really.
I remember the oil and gas guys in Kurdistan telling me how they were finding untouched archeological sites there in the dessert.
Wasn’t this guy misled though?
15 years is insane for this sort of crime anyways, let alone for a tourist who didn’t even make it out of the country with anything
Absolutely horrible sentence but why on earth would anyone think it’s alright to go to another country and leave with their ancient artifacts?
I call BS on his excuse. A geologist would know the local laws, and if they didn’t then they’d check. No doubt the dude thought “ah well it’s only Iraq”.
From memory I believe the artefacts he stole were given to him by the tour guide and he was told they held no scientific interest so it wouldn’t be a problem for him to take them?
This sounds like another Nazanin Ratcliffe to me, more a political prisoner than anything else
Who goes on holiday to Iraq?
And visits special archaeological sites? And takes things without permission?
>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 of selling them.
​
Ignorance =/= Defense in Law.
15 years what a joke. Why would anyone want to to to some middle Eastern shithole for a holiday anyway though.
No sympathy for him, he brought this on himself. For someone who worked in that field I do not believe he did not know he could simply take things he found
Indiana jones 2.0? Poor thing. But he will never spend so much time in jail. Probably 2; max 3
Seems a bit excessive, I’m surprised they didn’t just fine him
Heard about this on the radio, then at the very end there was a throwaway remark that he’s lived in Malaysia for *40 years*.
The absolute state of people here thinking he’s getting what he deserved. The man was told by a guide that it would be okay to take these scraps of “artifact”, he wasn’t knowingly stealing a relic. And those that said he should know the local laws bECaUsE hEs A gEoLoGiSt, shut the fuck up, he’s now basically going to die in an Iraqi jail because of a misunderstanding. I would hope if a similar situation were to happen to someone you know, you’d be a little more compassionate.
> Thair Soud, acting for Fitton, said he would immediately appeal against what he claimed was a draft verdict ahead of a routine court review of the case in a week. “The court’s decision was not proper for two reasons,” he said. “The first is because it did not apply the law [correctly], and secondly because of the severity of the punishment.
Fair enough. So pretty much everyone accepts he was guilty just that the punishment was unexpectedly harsh.
19 comments
He now finds himself between Iraq and a hard place.
I’ll just steal these pieces of pottery from a country in not from and take them back to Britain on a whim. There is no historical trend related to this
> The judge did not consider Soud’s arguments that laid out Fitton’s ignorance of Iraqi laws
Too right.
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.
**Stealing***
Considering that smuggling artefacts is a capital offence in Iraq and he could well have been executed, 15 years is quite lenient really.
I remember the oil and gas guys in Kurdistan telling me how they were finding untouched archeological sites there in the dessert.
Wasn’t this guy misled though?
15 years is insane for this sort of crime anyways, let alone for a tourist who didn’t even make it out of the country with anything
Absolutely horrible sentence but why on earth would anyone think it’s alright to go to another country and leave with their ancient artifacts?
I call BS on his excuse. A geologist would know the local laws, and if they didn’t then they’d check. No doubt the dude thought “ah well it’s only Iraq”.
From memory I believe the artefacts he stole were given to him by the tour guide and he was told they held no scientific interest so it wouldn’t be a problem for him to take them?
This sounds like another Nazanin Ratcliffe to me, more a political prisoner than anything else
Who goes on holiday to Iraq?
And visits special archaeological sites? And takes things without permission?
>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 of selling them.
​
Ignorance =/= Defense in Law.
15 years what a joke. Why would anyone want to to to some middle Eastern shithole for a holiday anyway though.
No sympathy for him, he brought this on himself. For someone who worked in that field I do not believe he did not know he could simply take things he found
Indiana jones 2.0? Poor thing. But he will never spend so much time in jail. Probably 2; max 3
Seems a bit excessive, I’m surprised they didn’t just fine him
Heard about this on the radio, then at the very end there was a throwaway remark that he’s lived in Malaysia for *40 years*.
The absolute state of people here thinking he’s getting what he deserved. The man was told by a guide that it would be okay to take these scraps of “artifact”, he wasn’t knowingly stealing a relic. And those that said he should know the local laws bECaUsE hEs A gEoLoGiSt, shut the fuck up, he’s now basically going to die in an Iraqi jail because of a misunderstanding. I would hope if a similar situation were to happen to someone you know, you’d be a little more compassionate.
> Thair Soud, acting for Fitton, said he would immediately appeal against what he claimed was a draft verdict ahead of a routine court review of the case in a week. “The court’s decision was not proper for two reasons,” he said. “The first is because it did not apply the law [correctly], and secondly because of the severity of the punishment.
Fair enough. So pretty much everyone accepts he was guilty just that the punishment was unexpectedly harsh.