{"id":111387,"date":"2023-07-02T09:46:58","date_gmt":"2023-07-02T03:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iranmirrorbd.com\/en\/?p=111387"},"modified":"2023-07-02T09:46:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T03:46:58","slug":"uk-returns-smuggled-ancient-artifact-to-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iranmirrorbd.com\/en\/2023\/07\/02\/uk-returns-smuggled-ancient-artifact-to-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"UK returns smuggled ancient artifact to Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Iran\u2019s charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires to the United Kingdom says London has returned a third-century rock relief sculpture, which was gouged from a cliff in Iran and smuggled out of the country, to the Iranian embassy.<\/p>\n

In a post on his Twitter account on Friday, Mehdi Hosseini Matin said the Iranian embassy had taken delivery of the antiquity, dating to the period of the Sasanian Empire (AD 224-651), after it was put on display at the British Museum for three months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe statue of the Sasanid soldier, which had been smuggled into Britain, was displayed temporarily at the British Museum for three months after Iran\u2019s ownership was proven,\u201d Hosseini Matin wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, the precious ancient work was officially delivered to the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in London. God willing, it will be sent soon to the beloved homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ancient treasure had been seized by the British border police in January 2016 at Stansted Airport near London.<\/p>\n

It was heading for the black market in Britain when it was confiscated by British border police officers upon growing suspicious of its haphazard packaging.<\/p>\n

The unique relief, which is over one meter in height, depicts an imposing male figure. It was hacked out of living rock or rock that has been carved in situ.<\/p>\n

Experts believe the artifact, reportedly worth more than \u00a330 million, may have come from Iran\u2019s southwestern Fars Province where a majority of Sasanian rock reliefs exist.<\/p>\n

Dr. St John Simpson, a senior curator and archaeologist in the British Museum\u2019s department of the Middle East, said previously that the thieves had used \u201can angle grinder to slice diagonally behind it and across the top. It was then packed in an incredibly bad manner, in a small, almost unpadded crate held together with nails.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe almost never come across a case of something being cut out of the \u2018living rock\u2019. That\u2019s a level of brutalism that surpasses anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The artifact had broken into two due to its haphazard packaging, but it was repaired by conservators.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, no arrests have been made so far, even though the case was investigated by Interpol and the National Crime Agency, and despite the fact that the packaging stipulated the sender, recipient and destination. \/MNA\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires to the United Kingdom says London has returned a third-century rock relief sculpture, which was gouged from a cliff in Iran and smuggled out of the country, to the Iranian embassy. In a post on his Twitter account on Friday, Mehdi Hosseini Matin said the Iranian embassy had taken delivery of the … Continue reading UK returns smuggled ancient artifact to Iran<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-2"],"yoast_head":"\nUK returns smuggled ancient artifact to Iran - Iran Mirror<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iranmirrorbd.com\/en\/2023\/07\/02\/uk-returns-smuggled-ancient-artifact-to-iran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK returns smuggled ancient artifact to Iran - Iran Mirror\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Iran\u2019s charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires to the United Kingdom says London has returned a third-century rock relief sculpture, which was gouged from a cliff in Iran and smuggled out of the country, to the Iranian embassy. 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