The Great London [Search results for Libya]

Libya: Mafia offers rifles to jihadists for Libyan treasures

The Italian mafia is selling assault rifles to Islamic State leaders in Libya in return for looted archaeological treasures, according to an Italian newspaper.
dir="ltr">Leptis Magna, Libya [Credit: AFP]
The feared ‘Ndrangheta gangsters sell on the priceless artefacts to Russian and Asian collectors.
La Stampa reports that the Calabrian network, which dominates Europe’s drug trade, works with the Camorra in Naples to buy Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers smuggled out of Ukraine and Moldova by the Russian mafia.
The armaments are then traded in return for ancient Roman and Greek statues that Isis fighters have dug up illegally in Libya, which was a colony of the two ancient cultures. Isis has ruled over swathes of the country for months.
A journalist from La Stampa posed as a collector to be taken to a salami factory in southern Italy by a member of an ‘Ndrangheta clan from Lamezia in Calabria. For $87,000 he was offered the marble head of a Roman sculpture looted from Libya.
The Mafioso also showed photographs of a larger head from a Greek statue, for sale at $1.2 million.
Antiquities are brought from Libya to the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro by Chinese-operated cargo ships, it is claimed. The treasures are sold on to collectors from Russia, China, Japan and the Gulf. After expanding into Libya, Isis has been pinned back by local militias. The jihadists, however, are believed to have tried to profit from trafficking in artefacts, as they have done in Iraq and Syria.
Libyan archaeologists working to protect the country’s five UNESCO-listed sites have received death threats.
Italian investigators have long suspected the mafia of selling guns to Isis. “In Naples, Islamic militias and the Camorra have been trading guns and drugs since the 1990s,” a veteran investigator said yesterday (Sunday).
The gangsters have also been involved in the wholesale looting of Etruscan Roman tombs in Italy. Trading guns for artefacts with Isis is a natural evolution of its business. The widespread excavation and selling of Greek and Roman treasures boomed in Libya after the death in 2011 of Colonel Gaddafi, well before the arrival of Isis.
A rare 4ft marble statue believed to have been dug up in the ancient city of Cyrene in 2011 and worth $3.2 million was found in a west London warehouse two years after the uprising.
Susan Kane, a Libyan expert at Oberlin College in Ohio, said: “There was a major land grab after the revolution and more earth has been moved since 2011 than in the preceding centuries. Antiquities are turning up and there is a great synergy between trafficking them, drugs and arms.”
Author: Tom Kington | Source: The Times [October 17, 2016]
UK: Court examines Libyan sculpture at British Museum

A court convened at the British Museum on Monday for the first time to enable a judge to inspect a £2million sculpture looted from Libya.

The marble statue is said to have been illegally dug up in Cyrene
[Credit: National News]

The "unique" four foot marble statue is said to have been illegally dug up in Cyrene, a UNESCO world heritage site, before being smuggled to the UK in 2011, via Dubai.
It was uncovered in a west London warehouse by customs officials two years later and handed to the British Museum pending a court's decision over ownership.
District Judge John Zani, who is overseeing the case at Westminster Magistrates Court, was given a detailed analysis of the sculpture during a two hour viewing at the museum.
Accompanied by barristers, solicitors and his legal adviser, the judge carefully examined the statue as he was told stains and other evidence demonstrated that it was “definitely” excavated illegally from the ancient Greek colony of Cyrene.
The statue, which depicts a Greek woman wearing a hood and flowing gown, is said to be unparalleled besides a single comparable example in the Louvre. The woman wears two snake-like bracelets and carries a doll.
It hails from the third centuries BC, when it served as a grave marker.
Authorities in Tripoli have already launched a bid to repatriate the work of art.
A British Museum spokesperson said that as far as they were aware it was the first time a court had convened on the premises.
Jordanian, Riad Al Qassas, who does not reside in the UK, is accused of falsifying paperwork after telling customs that the sculpture came from Turkey, rather than Libya, and was worth £60,000, rather than between £1.5m to £2m.
He denies one count of knowingly or recklessly delivering a false document to HMRC on November 1 last year.
Dr Peter Higgs, curator of Greek sculpture at the British Museum, told District Judge Zani the statue looked “fresh” and had been excavated “fairly recently”.
Highlighting earth stains and marks from vegetation, he pointed to “small pickaxe” marks as the judge circled the statue, studying it closely in a tiny store-room.
A video of the viewing was later played in court.
Dr Higgs said: “The statue is a three-quarter length figure. It is a funerary statue that I believe comes from the region of Cyrenaica, in Libya, which was a Greek colony.
“The statue is thought to represent either Persephone, the goddess of the underworld...or it is meant to be someone who is dedicated to the goddess. I believe it is very unlikely to come from Turkey.”
Dr Higgs said the statue was one of a kind, adding that it was in “the top ten” of its class.
“I believe that the statue was definitely made in Libya, in Cyrenaica,” he added.
“I believe, as I said, it is one of the best examples of its type and is extremely rare.”
Andrew Bird, for HMRC, has told the court that documents suggest Al Qassas had only a marginal role in the export.
He claimed Hassan Fazeli, a Dubai businessman who has claimed the sculpture has belonged to his family collection since 1977, was behind the crime.
Mr Bird said the false documents were submitted by Hassan Fazeli Trading Company LLC, which is based in Dubai, and which was last year accused by New York prosecutors of illegally bringing five ancient Egypt artefacts into the USA.
Ben Watson, representing Al Qassas, indicated his client would be happy to hand over the sculpture to Libya if it was shown to originate from there.
Libya has been plagued by looting and cultural vandalism since the fall of Colonel Gadaffi in 2011, with the resulting power vacuum effectively ending the state-sponsored preservation of Libya's multiple Greek and Roman sites.
The expansion of Islamic State fanatics into North Africa has stoked fears that unique sites will be destroyed, mirroring shocking images from the IS-controlled city of Mosul in Iraq.
A British Museum spokesperson said that as far as they were aware it was the first time a court had convened on its premises.
Author: Victoria Ward | Source: The Telegraph [March 31, 2015]
Libya: Looted Greek statue belongs to Libya rules UK judge

An ancient Greek sculpture worth £1.5m was “unlawfully excavated” from a world heritage site in Libya and brought to the UK, a judge has ruled.
It is believed to be of Greek goddess Demeter
or her daughter Persephone [Credit: PA]
The 4ft marble statue was dug up in the ancient Greek colony of Cyrene before being smuggled into Britain in 2011, according to evidence at Westminster magistrates’ court, London.
It was discovered in a west London warehouse by customs officials two years later and handed to the British Museum, pending a court’s decision over its ownership.
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said the statue was “misdeclared” on arrival to the UK after border officials were told it was from Turkey. But Jordanian national Riad Al Qassas claimed the sculpture – which experts believe dates to the 3rd or 4th centuries BC – belonged to him.
District Judge John Zani yesterday ruled that the sculpture was owned by “the state of Libya”. HMRC said it would take steps to return the statue to its “rightful owners”.
Dr Peter Higgs, a curator at the British Museum, had valued the statue at £1.5m-£2m. It is believed to be of Greek goddess Demeter or her daughter Persephone.
Source: Press Association [September 03, 2015]
Near East: Antiquities market on alert for looted Syrian spoils

As armed groups in Syria and Iraq destroy priceless archaeological sites, European authorities and dealers are on high alert for smaller, looted artefacts put on sale to help finance the jihadists' war.
Looted funerary reliefs from Palmyra [Credit: AP/SANA]
Stolen-art expert Chris Marinello, director of Art Recovery International, said he has been shown photographs of items being offered from Syria that were "clearly looted right out of the ground".
"You could still see dirt on some of these objects," he told AFP.
They included cylinder seals, Roman bottles and vases, although Marinello said it was unclear whether the items were still in Syria, were in transit or had arrived in the key markets of Europe and the United States.
Concerns about looting during the Syrian war have increased following the advance of the Islamic State group through parts of Syria and Iraq, and recent propaganda videos showing their destruction of ancient sites such as Nimrud.
The UN Security Council in February demanded UN states act to stop the trade in cultural property from those two countries, amid warnings that they represented a significant source of funding for the militant group.
Experts say it is impossible to put a value on antiquities looted from Syria, which has been home to many civilisations through the millennia, from the Canaanites to the Ottomans.
The London-based International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art (IADAA) estimates the entire legitimate antiquities market in 2013 was worth between 150 and 200 million euros ($160-215 million).
Marinello said reputable dealers are "being very careful not to touch anything that could remotely be part of this recent wave of looting".
But Hermann Parzinger, an archaeologist and president of the Germany-based Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, said there was an "enormous market" from private buyers.
He warned that the cultural costs were huge, telling AFP: "The context which is so important to reconstruct the history of these civilisations is completely destroyed."
Italy has proposed that world heritage body UNESCO create a military taskforce to protect cultural sites in war zones, but many experts believe little can be done to stop the current destruction.
Instead, they are forced to wait until the conflict ends and watch in horror as priceless historic sites are destroyed and the spoils gradually emerge onto the market.
Vernon Rapley, a former head of the art and antiquities squad at London's Metropolitan Police, expects many Syrian items to be held back to avoid flooding the market, as occurred after the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The looted artefacts were likely to be "hauled up in warehouses either in the country or near the country, and only linked to the art trade in small pieces and at a later stage", he told AFP.
Stephane Thefo, who leads an Interpol unit dedicated to fighting the illegal trafficking of cultural goods, agreed that many items may disappear for years -- but insisted that tackling the trade was the best way to combat looting.
The French policeman would like to see tougher national laws on trafficking of cultural goods, something Germany is currently considering.
"We have to act by seeking to narrow markets for the illicit trade, hoping that by curbing the demand, the supply would eventually decrease," Thefo said.
Identifying looted objects is no easy task, however, not least because cultural crime is rarely a police priority.
The law puts the onus on the authorities to prove an item is illegal and a long delay in an artefact being sold, or multiple owners, make it hard to establish provenance.
At a conference at the V&A museum in London this week on the destruction of cultural property in conflict areas in Iraq and Syria, Mali, Libya and Yemen, archaeologists stressed the need for proper inventories of heritage sites.
They noted that objects that have been photographed and digitally catalogued are more likely to be recovered.
Interpol is currently building a database of stolen objects, and James Ede, a London dealer and IADAA board member, urged cultural bodies to share their information with dealers.
"This material will necessarily surface on the open market sooner or later. The challenge therefore is to identify it and where possible to return it when it is safe to do so," he said.
Author: Alice Ritchie | Source: AFP [April 17, 2015]
UK: Replicas of Palmyra arch to go on show in London, NY

Giant replicas of an ancient arch in the Syrian city of Palmyra attacked by Islamic State (IS) jihadists will go on show in London and New York next year, organisers said Monday.
The archway of the Temple of Bel in Palmyra will be recreated in New York City
and London [Credit: Sandra Auger/Reuters/Corbis]
The full-size recreation of the arch from the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel will reportedly made using the world's biggest 3D printer and put on display in London's Trafalgar Square and Times Square in New York in April.
IS seized Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site northeast of Damascus known as the "Pearl of the Desert", in May and beheaded its 82-year-old former antiquities chief three months later.
In September, satellite images confirmed that the Temple of Bel, the main temple at Palmyra, had been targeted by IS as part of a campaign to destroy pre-Islamic monuments, tombs and statues it considers idolatrous.
Digital rendering of the proposed Syrian arch of Palmyra
[Credit: Institute for Digital Archaeology]
UN experts said the main building of the temple plus a row of columns had been destroyed.
Alexy Karenowska, director of technology at the Institute of Digital Archaeology in Oxford which is funding the reconstruction, confirmed a Times newspaper report that the replicas would be created for a special world heritage week.
"Reproductions/models of the structure, large and small, will be produced and installed around the world in schools, museums and prominent public spaces," Karenowska wrote in an email to AFP.
Model of how the arch will look in Trafalgar Square
[Credit: Institute for Digital Archaeology]
The institute's executive director, Roger Michel, was quoted in The Times as saying that the replicas standing 15 metres (50 feet) high were likely to be on temporary display.
"It is really a political statement, a call to action, to draw attention to what is happening in Syria and Iraq and now Libya," he added.
"We are saying to them, 'If you destroy something, we can rebuild it again.'
"The symbolic value of these sites is enormous -- we are restoring dignity to people."
Source: AFP [December 29, 2015]
Near East: UNESCO to monitor ancient sites by satellite

The United Nations agency UNESCO will use more monitoring by satellites to protect threatened ancient archeological sites, it announced.
Satellite photo of ancient Palmyra [Credit: © UNESCO]
UNESCO and UNITAR-UNOSAT (United Nations Institute for Training and Research- United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Program) signed an agreement to better protect the world's cultural and natural heritage sites by using geospatial photographic capabilities, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said Wednesday at a conference in London. The agreement comes as ancient sites in the Middle East are under assault by terrorist organizations which include the Islamic State (IS).
IS overtook the 2,000 year-old archaeological site at Palmyra, Syria, a city of Greek and Roman ruins, in May and has threatened to destroy it. Bokova said IS has destroyed mausoleums, temples and statues around the area on a wide scale, and planted explosives within the ancient city. It previously destroyed Assyrian ruins and artifacts in Syria.
Monitoring by satellite could reduce and document the extent of destruction, prepare reconstruction and provide evidence for international courts of justice, she added.
"We are very worried about Libya, being a divided country. We have a small office there and are working with the local governments and mayors. We are very concerned about the expansion of Isis (IS) and youth radicalization. We are worried about Somalia. This (the satellite program) is our response to extremism," Bokova said.
The agreement was signed Wednesday in Bonn, Germany.
Author: Ed Adamczyk | Source: UPI [July 02, 2015]