Iraq has filed a complaint with Interpol as it seeks to mount pressure on several states to return looted artefacts, the Ministry of Culture said on Monday.
The country, the birthplace of the world's earliest civilisation in recorded history, is home to thousands of artefacts. Some have been lost over the years have yet to be found.
“The case is ongoing and we have had excellent achievements in favour of returning Iraqi antiquities,” said ministry spokesman Ahmed Al Alawi.
The ministry said it has a plan in place on how to recover the stolen artefacts.
“There is a recovery operations group that includes some foreign states that are working alongside the ministry,” Mr Al Alawi said.
For decades, the war-torn country has struggled with the widespread theft of its antiquities and ancient paintings.
The looting began when the government lost control of the south in 1991 after the First Gulf War, and continued during the security vacuum that emerged after the US led invasion of 2003.
According to Mr Al Alawi, lootings often happen when “pieces are stolen from museums or from random excavations, which is the major problem the ministry is facing”.
After the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, looters entered the Iraqi National Museum, stealing thousands of priceless pieces and damaging many of the ceramics and pottery artefacts.
Iraq has about 15,000 registered archaeological sites, said Mr Al Alawi. However, unregistered sites are double that number.
“Some residents of remote areas, in co-operation with thieves, are excavating these areas and extracting ancient pieces,” he said.
People then smuggle the antiquities and sell them abroad.
“There are strict laws that carry the death penalty for smugglers of antiquities,” said Mr Al Alawi.
In early 2021, Iraq received more than 17,000 ancient artefacts, most of them from the US. The relics, dating as far back as 4,000 years, were looted from Iraq and sold on the black market mainly after the First Gulf War.
Among them was an antique clay tablet bearing a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known surviving piece of literature.
For years, experts and officials have said that Iraq’s rich cultural heritage is being lost at “unprecedented rates” as a result of war and conflict between rival groups.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'
Rating: 3/5
Directed by: David Yates
Starring: Mads Mikkelson, Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Jude Law
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index in full
1 Jeff Bezos $140 billion
2 Bill Gates $98.3 billion
3 Bernard Arnault $83.1 billion
4 Warren Buffett $83 billion
5 Amancio Ortega $67.9 billion
6 Mark Zuckerberg $67.3 billion
7 Larry Page $56.8 billion
8 Larry Ellison $56.1 billion
9 Sergey Brin $55.2 billion
10 Carlos Slim $55.2 billion
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
The Word for Woman is Wilderness
Abi Andrews, Serpent’s Tail
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
