[MSN] INCREASINGLY, the world of antiquities and museums has become a politically charged one, with museums acknowledging that art that was found to be looted must be returned.

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

March 29, 2006
Antiquities and Politics Intersect in a Lawsuit By BARRY MEIER

INCREASINGLY, the world of antiquities and museums has become a politically
charged one, with museums acknowledging that art that was found to be looted
must be returned. But when the objects come from a country that is viewed as
an enemy rather than an ally, the arena of antiquities takes a different
twist. Consider the fate of some artifacts from Iran.

In 2004, federal prosecutors in New York seized a 2,500-year-old silver
ceremonial drinking vessel of Iranian origin. Because imports from Iran are
severely restricted, a dealer had listed the object on import papers as
coming from Syria and sold it to a collector for $950,000. 

At the time, authorities heralded the case as part of a broadening crackdown
on antiquities trafficking. But these days, they will not discuss the
piece's future or even confirm that it has been stored in a warehouse since
its seizure.

It is not clear when, or even if, the ceremonial vessel, which is known as a
rhyton, will go back to Iran. But one unrelated development might affect its
fate. A group of American citizens, armed with a $300 million court award
against the government of Iran, has brought actions against the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago as well as other museums holding
Iranian artifacts. Their goal, unusual as it might sound, is to seize the
objects so they can be sold off, thus satisfying at least part of that
judgment.

The group of nine Americans received the financial award in 2003 when the
Iranian government defaulted on a lawsuit, which was filed in a Chicago
federal court, by not defending itself. In that lawsuit, the Americans, who
were injured in a 1997 suicide bombing in Jerusalem, charged that Iran had
financed its political ally, Hamas, to carry out the blast.

To collect that judgment, however, the plaintiffs have to seize assets
belonging to Iran, a task complicated by two factors, a dearth of such
assets in this country as well as American legal principles that effectively
immunize a foreign government against such seizures.

In this context, the artifacts, which date to the glory days of the Persian
Empire, are an inviting target. In the 1930's, the Oriental Institute, for
example, conducted extensive excavations at sites like Persepolis, bringing
back thousands of artifacts. Some of those objects were granted to the
institute by the Iranian government for its role in the excavation, while
others, including a vast library of cuneiform tablets, were lent to the
museum for study, with the understanding that they would eventually be
returned, said Gil Stein, the institute's director.

Mr. Stein said it took decades for scholars at the Oriental Institute to
decipher the tablets and begin to publish what they had learned about the
history of ancient Persia. Finally, in 2003, the institute announced that it
had arranged to begin returning some of the artifacts to Iran, information
that soon came to the attention of David J. Strachman, a lawyer in
Providence, R.I., who represented the plaintiffs in the bombing case.

When Mr. Stein went to work a few days later he got a surprise. "He served
us with a summons saying that you need to turn this stuff over in 10 days,"
he said. 

A legal battle ensued. Both the Oriental Institute and the State Department
took the position that the artifacts were part of Iran's national patrimony
and therefore did not fit the definition of a commercial "asset" that could
be seized to satisfy a judgment.

Their position, however, suffered a setback in December when an opinion held
that only the government of Iran could claim that its assets were immune
from seizure, and Iran continues to ignore the legal proceedings. Both the
museum and federal officials have asked the judge in the case to set that
opinion aside.

Meanwhile, the group of bombing victims has filed claims against a list of
institutions with extensive Persian collections, including the Museum of
Fine Arts in Boston and Harvard University. Mr. Strachman said he was not
interested in fighting a cultural war but simply wanted his clients to get
the money that was owed to them.

So far, the only Iranian property his group has seized is a small house in
Lubbock, Tex., which the former shah of Iran bought for his son while he was
taking flight training in the United States. "If Iran would pay this
judgment we would not be here," Mr. Strachman said. 

http://www.nytimes.com/