UPDATE
Iraq to free Briton jailed in antiquities case: lawyer
July 27, 2022
An Iraqi court has overturned the conviction and 15-year sentence handed to a British pensioner last month for antiquities smuggling, the retiree's lawyer said Tuesday.
© Sabah ARAR James Fitton -- left, pictured late last month -- was on Tuesday preparing to be freed from Iraqi jail after an appeal court overturned his conviction, his lawyer said
James Fitton had been charged under a 2002 law against "intentionally taking or trying to take out of Iraq an antiquity," the maximum penalty for which under the country's legal code is death by hanging.
The conviction has been "overturned today by the Court of Cassation and my client will soon be free", lawyer Thaer Saoud told AFP.
The retiree's son-in-law, Sam Tasker, told AFP in a phone call that the family was "very pleased by the decision, but we are still waiting for his release."
Fitton stood trial alongside German national Volker Waldmann, who was acquitted. Both men had pleaded not guilty.
Fitton's lawyer launched the appeal just over a month ago.
According to statements from customs officers and witnesses, Fitton's baggage contained about a dozen stone fragments, pieces of pottery or ceramics.
When the judge in the original trial asked Fitton why he tried to take the artefacts out of Iraq, the retired geologist cited his "hobby" and said he did not mean to do anything illegal