SANA'A March 19. 2024 (Saba) -The General Authority of Antiquities and Museums in Sana'a issued the fifteenth issue of lists of lost antiquities that were looted, robbed, smuggled, and offered for sale in international auctions abroad, under the name “Our Looted Antiquities.”
The authority explained, in a statement issued by it, a copy of which was received by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), “that the list included the monitoring of fifty artifacts dating back to different time and historical periods that were smuggled out of the country, and are currently being displayed in more than one public auction in Israel, America, and the Emirates, Britain, Poland, Switzerland, Germany."
The statement indicated that the Authority assigned a team affiliated with it to monitor and track the antiquities that are sold and displayed at international auctions, and then prepares lists and identifying information regarding those antiquities, their locations, and the exhibition halls in which the antiquities are displayed.
He stressed that the team is working with some researchers abroad, whether Yemenis or foreigners, who are responsible for sending all information about the ancient Yemeni antiquities that are being displayed or sold, whether they are being sold abroad or being promoted for sale at home, based on social media , various media outlets, and monitoring and documenting them in a database and submit it to the competent authorities to enable them to request the return of these artifacts.
The statement stated that the number of antiquities that were robbed and smuggled out of the country from 1994 until today amounted to more than 13 thousand antiquities, including about eight thousand antiquities that were allegedly looted and smuggled out of the country during the period of the Saudi-Emirati aggression against Yemen, according to information and sources with... Commission.
The General Authority for Antiquities and Museums stressed its keenness to recover all looted Yemeni antiquities that are offered for sale in international auctions abroad, and to place the Yemeni file on the destruction of Yemeni antiquities and smuggling them abroad on the list of upcoming priorities, since this file concerns the Yemeni people, and to tighten accountability for those responsible for the destruction of Yemeni antiquities and facilitate their smuggling to outside Yemen .
The statement stated that the Authority is tracking and monitoring these artifacts through its own team and reporting them to the competent authorities locally and internationally, providing them with all information about these artifacts and opening diplomatic channels to discuss the recovery of these Yemeni artifacts, as well as sending files from those lists to UNESCO, the organization concerned with the protection of World Heritage. It asked her to help recover looted Yemeni artifacts displayed in international auctions.
It also explained that there are tracking and monitoring units affiliated with the competent security authorities that are currently tracking these artifacts and communicating and coordinating with the competent authorities in the countries where Yemeni artifacts are displayed abroad and the possibility of their recovery to the homeland, as well as tracking antiquities networks and gangs linked to foreign gangs, who are By smuggling Yemen’s antiquities and heritage abroad through the ports controlled by the aggression’s mercenaries, and taking deterrent measures against them.
The statement indicated that the process of exhuming , stealing antiquities and smuggling them abroad during the current situation has increased due to the Saudi-Emirati aggression against Yemen, which has sought since its first days to target archaeological and historical sites, and to create a state of chaos to facilitate the task for weak souls, merchants, and antiquities thieves to transport them abroad in an attempt to erase Yemen's historical and cultural identity.
The Commission has previously issued 14 lists of “our looted antiquities” in the context of its tireless efforts to track looted and smuggled Yemeni antiquities to Arab and foreign countries, auctions, and international museums.
J.A
resource : SABA
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