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Legal
and parliamentary deputy head of Iran Cultural
Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO), Taha
Hashemi said in Tehran on Friday that the
historical objects confiscated at London Heathrow
airport will be delivered to ICHTO by Iran's
Customs Administration on Saturday.
According to Taha Hashemi, the artifacts in
question were submitted to Iran's Customs
Administration by the British government on
Wednesday.
Hashemi noted that the 4,000-year-old artifacts
will be transferred to Iran's National Museum,
where they will be showcased in the near future.
"The delivery of the ancient objects
belonging to Iran took place within the framework
of Nairobi Customs Convention which was ratified
by Majlis in 1994. Both Iran and Britain are
members of the convention.
"According to Article 11 of the convention,
upon coming across historical objects belonging to
the member countries, every member of Nairobi
Customs Convention should return them to their
country of origin," he added.
He noted that last summer, the British customs
clerks based at London international Heathrow
airport confiscated 100 pieces of artifacts
originating from Jiroft area which had been
smuggled into Britain through the Persian Gulf
countries.
"Thirty of the artifacts had been smuggled to
Kuwait from where they had been dispatched to
Britain. Fortunately, the British customs clerks
managed to identify and confiscate them," he
added.
On the illegal excavations and smuggling of
archaic objects out of the country, Hashemi said
that to prevent selling the Iranian historical
objects at the international auctions ICHTO has
published some directory booklets.
"The booklet containing the features of the
artifacts unearthed at Jiroft area and their
picture have been very effective in identifying
the related objects at Heathrow customs office.
"After ICHTO was informed about confiscation
of the artifacts, another booklet with more
details was published and dispatched to the
experts of London British Museum to help them
identify such artifacts in future," he added.
The official said that the historical objects have
been returned to Iran through the efforts of ICHTO
and close cooperation of the related organizations
in both countries after documents were made
available.
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