The apparent insurability of their butts.
War veteran Nigel “Spud” Ely rescued the buttock of one of the Saddam Hussein statues from being melted down for scrap metal in 2003. One of his business partners has been detained for questioning on allegations that the buttock was illegally exported to the UK, violating the 2003 Iraq Sanctions Order. This order regulates the importation of “Iraqi cultural property” including archaeological, historical, and religious related items.
Ely questions the validity of Iraqi claims, stating that the buttock was a gift from American Marines and that Baghdad was not under Iraqi control, but under American authority at the time. As the investigation continues, authorities have warned Ely that if he sells or defaces the buttock, he could be prosecuted. The value of the piece is estimated at £250,000.
Read the full article Man arrested over importation of Saddam Hussein statue’s buttock,
Thanks to Kristina Bauer for her assistance with this post.
wgsant
January 26, 2012
Somehow the humor of this situation escapes me. What seems like folly on the one hand is a perfect manifestation of the PC world of nationalistic repression on the other. It’s utter lunacy. If the locals had melted the bronze and made paperweights of it, they could have been exported without a care. Of course, one hundred years from now Iraq could have claimed all the paperweights as cultural property and demanded their repatriation. Are there no limits at all to this insanity?
Paul Barford
February 6, 2012
It was not Nigel Ely who was arrested, but a business partner.
Surely the whole point of cultural property law and the international conventions is that the locals decide on the fate of cultural goods in their territory? That it’s the outsiders (like soldiers of an invading US army) who need to respect their laws and wishes. Spin it how you like, according to Mr Ely’s own account, reported in the papers at the time he was trying to sell it for some ridiculous sum, the object was not lawfully removed from Iraq.
Kimberly Alderman
February 6, 2012
Thanks for pointing out the error. I’ve made an appropriate correction.
Thank you Paul and Wayne for your comments. I think both exemplify how so many controversies in cultural property law turn on the old debate of who should decide what’s right with regard to cultural property — whose job is it to preserve physical manifestations of the past?