Sam Tasker: Last News

Iraq after being accused of attempting to smuggle historical artefacts out of the country.Father-of-two Jim Fitton, 66, who lives in Malaysia, was held over smuggling allegations during his first visit to the country for a geology and archaeology tour.His family claim he found the pottery fragments out in the open and was told by the tour guide, who's since died, that it would be fine to take.Now his children, Joshua and Leila, and Leila's husband Sam Tasker, have set up a petition to press the UK government to assist with the case.Mr Tasker said in a statement Mr Fitton and a German man on the trip were arrested on March 20, following a security check of the group's baggage at the airport in which 12 shards were said to have been recovered from his luggage.His family say he is accused of taking broken shards of pottery found at the Eridu historical site in southern Iraq.Their tour leader was taken into custody around the same time, after suffering a possible stroke, and has since passed away.A family statement reads: "Whilst on the tour, our father visited historical sites around Iraq, where his tour group found fragments of stones and shards of broken pottery in piles on the ground."These fragments were in the open, unguarded and with no signage warning against removal.

jailed for 15 years in Iraq for collecting stones and shards of pottery is to be freed. Retired geologist Jim Fitton, 66, who could have been executed over the case, has been held since March ­after taking the items as souvenirs.

15 years in prison.Jim Fitton, 66, a retired geologist, took the pieces as souvenirs for his visit during an organised geology and archaeology tour, and Fitton's family say they are "shattered" by the result.The father-of-two could have faced the death penalty under Iraqi law, but was instead sentenced in court to 15 years in prison.Fitton's son-in-law, Sam Tasker, 27, has said the sentencing is the equivalent "to a death sentence," and has criticised the UK Government for their "total lack of action". Speaking of the heartbreaking sentencing, Tasker said: "We are absolutely shattered by this news.