More than 320 cases before international courts to recover the looted antiquities of Iraq

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[size=52]More than 320 cases before international courts to recover the looted antiquities of Iraq[/size]

[size=45]Translation/ Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]A report stated that Iraq has filed more than 320 cases before international courts to recover its looted artifacts, noting that this legal battle may take years to resolve despite the progress made at the present time.[/size]
[size=45]A report published by (The National News) website, translated by (Al-Mada), stated that "the relics of ancient civilizations in the Middle East and North Africa have been subjected throughout history to theft, looting and smuggling."[/size]
[size=45]The report added, "This happened in illegal trade, which aggravated during the stages of wars, conflicts and security instability experienced by countries such as Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Egypt."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "sales of art and antiques at the global level during the year 2020 amounted to more than 50 billion dollars."[/size]
[size=45]The report stated, "Experts estimated the amount of money obtained from the illegal trade in antiquities at about 10 billion dollars annually, a figure that Interpol says has increased during the last ten years."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "Thousands of artifacts were smuggled from Iraq or were destroyed by the terrorist organization ISIS during the period of its control over a third of the country from 2014 to 2017."[/size]
[size=45]The report noted that "the widespread looting of antiquities in Iraq had begun more than ten years before this date, since the US invasion in 2003."[/size]
[size=45]He stated, "Iraq is currently working, as well as other Arab countries, to recover its precious archaeological pieces that represent its history by tracing the routes and routes of smuggling antiquities around the world for the purpose of returning them to their original locations."[/size]
[size=45]The report spoke of “agreements being signed between countries to facilitate the recovery operations and correct historical errors.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "Mustafa Khaled, one of the employees of the Antiquities Retrieval Department at the Antiquities and Heritage Authority, checks a package of documents that he holds in his hand."[/size]
[size=45]The report stressed, "Each of these documents contains lists of several legal cases filed by the Iraqi government in international courts around the world in an attempt to retrieve antiquities that were looted and illegally smuggled outside the country."[/size]
[size=45]Khaled said, "Our antiquities that were looted from our historical sites were smuggled to different regions around the world."[/size]
[size=45]Khaled continued, "The process of tracing the path of each of these antiquities and knowing where they went is difficult," stressing that "the legal battle to retrieve them may take years, but we have been able to make some progress."[/size]
[size=45]The report stated, "Thousands of these pieces have ended up at global auction houses and museums in different countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, the United States and many other countries, and so far, Iraq has filed more than 320 cases in an attempt to retrieve them."[/size]
[size=45]And he added, "The government's efforts last year resulted in support from the international community, in order to retrieve more than 17,000 artifacts from the United States that were stolen, smuggled and returned to Iraq, including a 3,500-year-old clay tablet bearing part of the Gilgamesh epic."[/size]
[size=45]The report promised, "These successes bring hope to a country that witnessed a process of destruction and sabotage of its cultural heritage, following decades of wars, insecurity, mismanagement and corruption."[/size]
[size=45]He stated, "The looting and looting of archaeological sites in Iraq, although it is not a new phenomenon, but exacerbated further after the second Gulf War in 1991, when the authority of the former regime declined, especially in remote rural areas in the south of the country."[/size]
[size=45]The report finds, "The major blow to the antiquities of Iraq is after the American invasion, the fall of the regime, and the entry of American forces into Baghdad."[/size]
[size=45]He cautioned, that "thieves then stormed the Iraqi Museum and looted more than 15,000 priceless artifacts, leaving behind fragments of pottery scattered on the floor of the museum hall."[/size]
[size=45]The report continues, "The American forces used some of the archaeological sites in Babylon and Ur as their military bases."[/size]
[size=45]And he stated, "The terrorist organization ISIS, during its control of a number of provinces in mid-2014 until its expulsion in 2017, destroyed and bulldozed archaeological sites and smuggled many antiquities and sold them on the black market to finance its terrorist operations."[/size]
[size=45]The report stated, "In recent years, Iraq has made unremitting efforts to recover its property from stolen antiquities. He signed agreements with different countries.[/size]
[size=45]He noted that “the Security Council in 2015 adopted a resolution prohibiting trafficking in antiquities stolen from Iraq and Syria, and called on member countries of the United Nations to cooperate; to put an end to it.”[/size]
[size=45]Khaled returns to say, "Sometimes we receive information from people abroad or foreign governments through Iraq's embassies about artifacts of questionable belonging to the country," and he believed that "the biggest challenge is finding antiquities in the possession of art and archaeological artifacts."[/size]
[size=45]And the report confirmed that, “Last year, the US authorities forced the antiquities dealer, Michael Steinhardt, to give up his antiquities worth 70 million dollars that were stolen from Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and other countries, all of which were passed through brokers and antiquities smugglers.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "Hundreds of other pieces were returned to Iraq from other countries, including 337 artifacts that were in the possession of a private museum in Beirut called the Nabu Museum."[/size]
[size=45]The head of the General Authority for Antiquities and Heritage, Laith Majid Hussein, said, "The majority of these artifacts came from illegal excavations of historical sites, and so far Iraq has managed to recover only one third of the National Museum's holdings."[/size]
[size=45]Hussein added, "More security personnel were deployed with the construction of fences around the archaeological sites," noting that "the looting operations, although they have decreased in recent years, are still considered a problem."[/size]
[size=45]Hussein concluded, "Iraq includes 20,000 archaeological sites, but it is impossible to allocate guards for each site."[/size]
[size=45]About: The National news site[/size]
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