Briton leaves Iraq after antiquities conviction quashed

Advertisement

Advertise with us

LONDON (AP) — A retired British geologist jailed in Iraq for antiquities smuggling has been freed and has left the country, his family said Sunday.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/07/2022 (1502 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON (AP) — A retired British geologist jailed in Iraq for antiquities smuggling has been freed and has left the country, his family said Sunday.

Jim Fitton, 66, was sentenced in June to 15 years in an Iraqi prison. A Baghdad appeals court overturned the conviction and last week ordered his release.

Fitton has now been reunited with family in Malaysia, where he lives. Son-in-law Sam Tasker said Fitton arrived at Kuala Lumpur airport on Friday, and the family was “absolutely over the moon.” Fitton missed wedding for his daughter Leila and Tasker in May while he was imprisoned.

FILE - Volker Waldmann, right, and Jim Fitton, center, are handcuffed as they walk to a courtroom escorted by police arriving to court in Baghdad, Iraq, on May 22, 2022. A retired British geologist jailed in Iraq for antiquities smuggling has been freed and has left the country, his family said Sunday, July 31, 2022. Jim Fitton, 66, was sentenced last month to 15 years in an Iraqi prison. A Baghdad appeals court overturned the conviction and last week ordered his release. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)
FILE - Volker Waldmann, right, and Jim Fitton, center, are handcuffed as they walk to a courtroom escorted by police arriving to court in Baghdad, Iraq, on May 22, 2022. A retired British geologist jailed in Iraq for antiquities smuggling has been freed and has left the country, his family said Sunday, July 31, 2022. Jim Fitton, 66, was sentenced last month to 15 years in an Iraqi prison. A Baghdad appeals court overturned the conviction and last week ordered his release. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)

Fitton was arrested in March at Baghdad Airport and charged under antiquities laws that carried the possibility of a death sentence.

His case drew international attention after he was convicted of picking up shards of pottery and other fragments from an ancient site in southern Iraq while on an organized geology and archaeology tour. Fitton told the court that he had no criminal intent, and some of the pieces he picked up from an unguarded site were no larger than a fingernail.

Many feared the incident would deter tourists from visiting Iraq, where the government hopes to grow the nascent tourism sector.

Frustrated by perceived inaction on the part of the British government, Fitton’s family started a petition that garnered more than 350,000 signatures.

Tasker said the public support was “evidence that the actions of the many can move the needle in situations like this, you spurred us on when we were struggling to find hope.”

“We as a family will never again doubt the kindness of strangers,” he said.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Flash, bang … oops: police raid leads to lawsuit

Erik Pindera 4 minute read Preview

Flash, bang … oops: police raid leads to lawsuit

Erik Pindera 4 minute read Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

A couple suing the city allege Winnipeg Police Service officers trying to execute a search warrant at their condominium complex rappelled down the side of the building, broke in their glass patio door and fired off a stun grenade before realizing they were in the wrong unit.

Saeid Ghavami and Shahla Shojaei, a married couple who are academics and scientific researchers at the University of Manitoba, filed the lawsuit in Court of King’s Bench last month over the Jan. 31, 2025 incident.

The claim names the City of Winnipeg and several officers involved in the operation, whose identities are, at this point, unknown to the couple, and are referred to as “John Does.”

Officers were attempting to execute the warrant on the third floor of the eight-storey Pembina Highway building, the court filing says. The couple lives on the fourth floor.

Read
Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

DNA on beer can helps solve killing

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Preview

DNA on beer can helps solve killing

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Two years after 74-year-old James Monaghan was stabbed in his Sherburn Street home, DNA found on a beer can led police to his killer.

Shara Harper, 29, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and on Tuesday was sentenced to six years in prison.

A neighbour found Monaghan dead in his home on July 29, 2022. He had been stabbed twice in the chest and back.

The investigation into Monaghan’s killing had stalled until June 2024, when DNA found on an empty beer can in Monaghan’s home was confirmed to be a match for Harper.

Read
Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Childfree Winnipeg group gives women without kids a place to gather

AV Kitching 5 minute read Preview

Childfree Winnipeg group gives women without kids a place to gather

AV Kitching 5 minute read Yesterday at 4:48 PM CDT

Katelyn Sawatzky founded Childfree Winnipeg Women in 2021 to bring together women who don’t have kids — be it by choice or circumstance — and do not plan on raising children.

The group is designed to help them share experiences and build meaningful friendships.

The community welcomes cisgender, straight, transgender, bisexual and lesbian women. Parents, including empty nesters and men, are turned away.

“Our group is a safe space where women can hang out with other women without being asked when you’re going to have kids or why you don’t have kids … where you don’t feel like you have to validate or defend your choices in any way, because everyone gets it,” Sawatzky says.

Read
Yesterday at 4:48 PM CDT

Letters, Sept. 10

6 minute read Preview

Letters, Sept. 10

6 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

So, Coun. Browaty, do tell, when should we start to panic? What is your magic number? Is there one?

Read
2:01 AM CDT

Puzzles Palace

1 minute read Monday, Jul. 27, 2026

To solve our puzzles, please subscribe with this special offer: |

Supportive housing operator sued after man with dementia walks away

Erik Pindera 4 minute read Preview

Supportive housing operator sued after man with dementia walks away

Erik Pindera 4 minute read 6:00 AM CDT

The Public Guardian and Trustee of Manitoba is suing a health services company after a man with dementia under its care allegedly wandered away from an apartment it operates for vulnerable people and was later found face down in a puddle — unresponsive, hypothermic and severely injured.

The public trustee — a provincial government agency that, among other duties, makes financial and personal care decisions for vulnerable adults who cannot do so themselves — filed the lawsuit against Cambridge Health Inc. and a related numbered company in the Court of King’s Bench earlier this month.

The agency did so on behalf of a now-38-year-old man, who has been under its care since 2018, as a result of his frontotemporal dementia. The disease often starts in mid-life, rather than old age, as is the case with most other forms of dementia.

The lawsuit alleges the man, who resided at a Henderson Highway apartment complex where Cambridge Health operated a supportive residence for people with complex behavioural health issues, was in a common area of the home at about 4:30 p.m. on April 3 last year.

Read
6:00 AM CDT