The United States has returned 77 antiquities that had been looted from Yemen, US authorities said on Tuesday, adding that the objects would be housed "
temporarily
" in a museum in Washington, under the terms of an agreement with the Yemeni government.
The list includes "
64 carved stone heads, 11 manuscript pages from the Quran, a bronze engraved bowl, and a funerary stele from the Ma'în or Minaean tribal cultures of the highlands of northwestern Yemen, dating from the 1st century BC. -Christ
“, details the press release of the federal prosecutor of New York, Breon Peace.
The announcement was made jointly by the district attorney's office, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and the Smithsonian Institution, which includes nearly 20 museums in the United States.
Read alsoIn Yemen, an endless war that does not say its name
New York State justice has been carrying out a vast campaign for several years to return looted antiquities from around the world that have landed in museums and galleries in the megalopolis: from 2020 to 2021, at least 700 pieces have been returned to 14 countries, including Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Greece or Italy.
According to Prosecutor Peace's statement, the 64 carved stone heads had been confiscated in the United States as part of a 2012 plea bargain from an antiquities smuggler named Mousa Khouli, also known as "
Morris
” Khouli.
Antiquities, especially Egyptian, were imported into the United States from Dubai with false documents.
Yemen expresses 'deep gratitude'
Yemen's ambassador to the US, quoted in the statement, expressed his "
deep gratitude
" to the US state.
"
I also express my great appreciation to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art for agreeing to temporarily hold these antiquities, until they are fully repatriated to Yemen in the future,
" the Ambassador added. Mohammad Al-Hadhrami.
The Yemeni government and this Washington museum have signed an agreement to preserve the objects for two years, “
with the option of renewing it at the request
” of Yemen.
Yemen has been devastated for more than eight years by a civil war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and plunged the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula into one of the worst humanitarian tragedies in the world.