[MSN] Iran loses High Court battle against the very dubious Barakat Gallery to recover stolen antiquities. How dubious is Barakat? Look here and find 24 NOK statues this gallery is offering at the moment: http://tinyurl.com/2wspxd

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

Iran loses High Court battle against the Barakat Gallery (a dubious Gallery
selling plenty antiquities without provenance, and antiquities that are on
the ICOM RED List) to recover 'stolen' antiquities.

How dubious? Look here and find 24 (!!!!) NOK statues this gallery is
offering at the moment:

http://tinyurl.com/2wspxd

  

Let's hope Iran will appeal against this ruling.


T.C.



Iran loses High Court battle to recover 'stolen' antiquities 

By Thair Shaikh 

Published: 30 March 2007 
Iran has lost a High Court battle to recover a collection of 5,000-year-old
grave relics it says were looted from desert sites. In a ruling that could
have implications for attempts by other countries to secure the return of
antiquities, Mr Justice Gray said that, under the provisions of Iranian law,
it could not show that it had obtained valid title to the artefacts. 

Iran had sued the Barakat Gallery, an antiquities specialist with offices in
Mayfair, central London and Beverly Hills, seeking to recover carved objects
it said were taken from the ancient city of Jiroft in the Halil river valley
in south-eastern Iran.

Lawyers acting for Iran said the treasures were among thousands of pieces
stolen after floods washed away the topsoil and exposed relics in Jiroft in
2001.

But the judge said Iran had failed to prove its legal ownership of the jars,
cups and other items but gave permission for his ruling to be challenged at
the appeal court. "I have come, with some regret, to the conclusion that
Iran has not discharged the burden of establishing its ownership of the
antiquities under the laws of Iran," said Mr Justice Gray. "I readily accept
that Iran has gone to some lengths to list and secure protection for its
natural heritage and to penalise unlawful excavators and exporters. But the
enactments relied on by Iran fall short in my judgement of establishing its
legal ownership of the antiquities."

Jeremy Scott, a lawyer acting on behalf of the Iranian government, said the
ruling was a setback for those trying to stop looters. "It will be of great
concern to many countries throughout the world as it places their
archaeological heritage at further risk."

The Barakat Gallery, which intends to fight any appeal, said it had acquired
good title to the artefacts under the laws of France, Germany and
Switzerland, where it bought them. The gallery's London lawyers, Lane &
Partners, said the antiquities were mainly bought at auction and were valued
at about £250,000. In a statement, the gallery said: "We do understand the
Islamic Republic of Iran's desire to preserve [its] rich and diverse
heritage. However, there must also be protection for those of us who, quite
legitimately, are dealing in antiquities."

Archaeologists believe the Jiroft civilisation was one of the earliest
literate societies in the world. Since 2001, excavations have uncovered
graves containing carved chlorite objects, similar to the 18 Iran wants
returned, but many tombs were emptied illegally between 2000 and 2004.

Iran wanted the High Courtto order the delivery up of the two jars, five
cups, six vases, one bowl, one vessel and three weights held by The Barakat
Gallery. Its counsel, Hodge Malek QC, had argued that the gallery had no
title to them as there was "no way on earth" that the unknown finder of the
artefacts could obtain good or lawful title to them. 


More about this:

Fresh Calls by Iran for Return of Stolen Jiroft Artefacts

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:00 am    Post subject: Fresh Calls by Iran for
Return of Stolen Jiroft Artefacts   

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
 
Board members of Barakat Gallery in London who had purchased stolen Jiroft’s
artefacts rejected Iran’s £150,000 proposal as a compensation for the
expenses of keeping these relics which were looted from Jiroft in return for
the artifacts currently in the possession of the Gallery. Therefore, Iran
has once again taken the case to British court for a legal decision. 

It was the second time that Iran sued the Barakat Gallery. Last time, once
Iranian cultural heritage authorities found out that Jiroft’s stolen relics
were being auctioned by this gallery, they immediately took action and asked
the British authority to stop the selling of these invaluable relics. The
court ordered the gallery to stop selling them and asked it to come to an
agreement with Iran about them. However, although the gallery took these
artifacts out of its auction, it has refused to return them back to Iran
despite Iran’s proposal to give £150,000 as compensation. 

“After the initial studies, London’s Court asked both parties to reach to a
mutual agreement and find a solution to this problem,” said Omid Ghanami,
executive director of the judicial department of Iran’s Cultural Heritage
and Tourism Organization (ICHTO). 

According to Omid Ghanami, the present owners of these relics have suggested
to pay for Jiroft’s artifacts in order to keep and later sell them in their
gallery, it is by no means reasonable that Iran sell its historical
heritage, whatever the price may be. 

“Based on international conventions, the present owners may receive the
expenses for keeping these objects for the time they were in their
possession. Therefore, ICHTO has suggested paying some 100-150 thousand
pounds for these years which has not been accepted by the owners; therefore,
the case was retaken to the London’s Court. However, we are not sure how
long the process will take,” added Ghanami. 

Prior to this, Iran had three different files in London courts related to
the smuggling of Jiroft’s historical relics across the borders; however,
following the efforts made by ICHTO, the two other courts issued their votes
in favor of Iran and the objects were returned to their home country last
March. So the only file still open is the one about selling of these relics
in the Barakat Gallery. 

The case was first taken to the court by Iran with the help of the
International Law Department of Paris. Iran and France worked closely to
prepare a file and submit it to London’s court to prove Iran’s claim for the
ownership of these relics. These ancient artifacts had been plundered from
Halil Rud historical site near the city of Jiroft in the Iranian province of
Kerman. The smugglers then illegally crossed the borders of the country with
these valuable objects, considered part of the Iranian heritage, and sold
them abroad. The Barakat Gallery collected a large number of them and put
them on auction. 

Halil Rud historical site was one of the first places where civilization and
urbanization were established. A large number of stone, clay, and
architectural remains from the third millennium BCE were discovered during
archaeological excavations in the site. However, after such a rich
civilization was discovered in Halil Rud region, lack of appropriate
protection and management in this historical site and lack of public
knowledge about how to preserve their cultural heritage, and the smugglers
who took advantage of this situation and sold a large amount of these
historical relics illegally all led to such a dilemma we are facing today. 

Even after these objects were taken out of Iran, plundering of the site did
not stop. A few months ago, Iran’s police department succeeded in seizing
more than 2000 historical relics and arrested a large number of antique
smugglers before they had the chance to leave the country. 

Illegal excavations of the smugglers in this historical site resulted in the
loss of some invaluable evidence since it is evident that they would not
take precautious measures in taking out these objects and thus would harm
the surrounding land and anything buried within the area. These historical
treasures were then sold to museums and private collections outside the
country. Now the current owners of these historical relics deny Iran’s right
over these historical relics and refuse to redeem them. Therefore, Iran’s
government has to work hard on the case to return these historical relics
back to the country and ask an international court to be set up to identify
these relics and prove that they belong to this land.