Jordan
Returns Looted Treasures to Iraq
AMMAN (RIA
Novosti) — Jordan has returned almost 2,500 ancient artifacts
to Iraq which were stolen from Baghdad’s national
museum following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, local media
reported.
The antiquities,
dating back over a period of 7,000 years, were recently seized
from smugglers by Jordanian border officials in 22 separate
batches.
The pieces
– including coins, necklaces, ancient scrolls and ceramic pots
– were handed over by Jordanian Tourism Minister Maha Khatib
to her Iraqi counterpart, Mohammed Abbas al-Oraibi, in Amman.
Speaking
at the ceremony at Jordan’s department of antiquities, Khatib
said Jordan made the decision to return the items to Iraq, "the
cradle of civilization," as stability has been restored
to the country.
One of the
most valuable pieces is an ivory relief from the first millennium
B.C. that originated from the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrod.
At least
15,000 separate items were stolen in Iraq in 2003 and only
8,500 items have since been returned. The Iraqi tourism minister
has called on other countries to follow suit and return the
country’s looted treasures.