Jailed geologist Jim Fitton: MP says government needs to do more

Jim Fitton, 66, who is originally from Bath, was sentenced to 15 years for trying to smuggle artefacts out of Iraq.

Bath Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse accused the government of not taking Mr Fitton's case "seriously enough".

The Foreign Office said it was in contact with the local authorities.

"We are providing consular assistance to a British national in Iraq, and continue to support his family," said a spokesperson.

Mr Fitton was stopped at Baghdad Airport where officials found 12 stones and shards of broken pottery in his luggage.

He had been on a geological trip to the Middle Eastern country and has repeatedly insisted he had no idea he was breaking Iraqi laws.

Ms Hobhouse backed his claim and said: "He has done nothing wrong."

She claimed an official tour operator and an official from the Iraqi authorities were present during the tour and raised no issue with him taking the artefacts.

"He checked whether it would be OK to take these pieces and he was told, yes it would be OK," she added.

"We absolutely believe that this is a very wrong conviction."

Mr Fitton's family said they were "terrified" about how he would be treated in prison, with his daughter Leila saying "he is not a criminal".

Ms Hobhouse explained that they contacted Amanda Milling, minister for Asia and the Middle East, but "didn't hear anything for 10 days".

The family's lawyer claimed the case's outcome could have been different if the government had intervened earlier.

"We felt that the government didn't take this seriously enough," Ms Hobhouse told a press conference on Tuesday evening.

Mr Fitton was arrested as he prepared to leave the country alongside German national Volker Waldmann.

They were charged under a 2002 law which prohibits "intentionally taking or trying to take out of Iraq an antiquity" which can result in the death penalty.

Mr Waldmann was acquitted while Mr Fitton was spared execution by an Iraqi judge because of his "advanced age".

Ms Hobhouse said: "Fifteen years for somebody who's 66 is a very, very bad outcome. They [the government] should have interfered earlier."

She added: "We hear that the government is doing things in the background but we are short of information and the family needs more assurance that this is actually the case."