‘Stolen artefacts funding ISIS military operations’

Some of the artwork stolen from Syria and Iraq includes Bronze Age tables with cuneiform writing on them

A British parliamentarian recently stated that militants are stealing artifacts in Iraq and Syria to finance their terror campaign. Some of the artefacts to have been stolen included the early Bronze Age tables with cuneiform writing, reported Al-Arabiya News.

“We live in a time of the most tragic and outrageous assault on our shared heritage that any of us have seen since the end of the Second World War,” MP Robert Jenrick stated in an article he wrote for The Art Newspaper.

He added, “Ancient treasures in Iraq and Syria have become the casualties of continuing warfare and looting.”

Jenrick stated that no other group has done more to put their heritage at risk than the Islamic State (IS). He noted that not only was the group “taking lives, but tearing at the fabric of civilization, looting and purposefully destroying the culture and collective memory of millions.”

With reports emerging that the money generated from the sale of the artwork is being used to fund terrorist activities MP Robert Jenrick has gone on to say that the illegal sale of these artworks is “no longer just an issue for people with an interest in the art world or cultural heritage.”

Jenrick noted that Isis has been employing contractors with bulldozers to harvest the stolen antiquities on an “industrial scale.”

According to the MP, in the United States alone there has been a 133% increase in Syrian artwork being imported in the country over the past year. Some of the more notable artworks have been discovered by auction houses, whereas other artwork has also been seen on online on websites like eBay.

“There are reports of works being offered privately in the Gulf at one end of the scale and appearing on eBay at the other,” said Jenrick.

The MP however, also spoke of a positive attitude being displayed by the markets which are not accepting the “looted material”.

These reports of Isis selling artefacts have not emerged for the first time as the UN cultural agency, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) had issued a warning in late 2014 that Isis was selling ancient Iraqi artefacts in an attempt to finance their military operations in the region.

“Overall there hasn’t been a significant uptake in works coming to market so it’s likely that vast quantities of looted materials are being stored by middlemen until ‘the dust has settled,’” Jenrick said, adding, “That suggests that when these works do come to market, they will do so having passed through many hands, including sophisticated, organised criminals.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2015.

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