Joy as Jim reunited with family after Iraq ordeal
Jim Fitton has been reunited with his family after a terrifying stint in an Iraqi prison.
The 66-year-old Bath archaeologist was arrested at Baghdad Airport in March, on suspicion of smuggling artefacts, after he picked up some “valueless” shards of pottery during a tour of a historical site. A German man - Volker Waldman - from the same tour group was also arrested.
Mr Fitton was charged and found himself facing a potential death sentence if convicted.
Back in the UK, his daughter Leila and her husband Sam Tasker contacted Bath MP Wera Hobhouse to ask for help.
She called on the Foreign Office to support Jim’s case, pressuring her parliamentary colleagues to intervene.
Yet, despite the skilful work of Jim’s lawyer Thaer Saoud, the retired archaeologist was handed a 15-year jail sentence in June.
Almost immediately, Mr Fitton’s family appealed the verdict and his case went to the appeals court in Baghdad. At the end of July, his conviction was quashed and - at last - Jim was free again.
Though from Bath originally, the 66-year-old has lived in Malaysia for the past 40 years with his wife Sarijah. He returned home on Friday last week, landing at Kuala Lumpur at 5pm local time.
Speaking to the press on Sunday, Leila described the “relief” she felt in seeing her father again.
She said: “I am very close to my dad but I hadn’t seen him for two years before he was arrested, because I was in the UK.
“This whole experience has been a nightmare, maybe even worse than a nightmare. I haven’t slept properly in months due to the constant stress and worry.
“He has lost a lot of weight and he was a little unsteady on his feet when he arrived home because he hasn’t had a lot of exercise for the last few months.
“He doesn’t talk a lot about what happened - in fact, I am not sure he believed he was home until he woke up in his own bed.”
Sam took the opportunity to thank everyone who helped get Jim home.
This included politicians like Bath MP Wera Hobhouse and other MPS across the country, as well as the 357,000 people who signed a petition against his imprisonment.
“We as a family will never again doubt the kindness of strangers,” Sam said.
“There’s no kind of playbook in these situations. No one tells you what to do,” he added, thanking the many families, also with relatives imprisoned abroad, who had advised the Fitton family along the way.
Ms Hobhouse also commented on what has been a very difficult time for Jim’s loved ones.
She said: “I am absolutely over the moon that Jim has returned to his family.
“It’s impossible to comprehend what Jim and his family have been through over these past few months.
“The whole family has shown incredible strength and resilience since Jim was arrested in March and have tirelessly campaigned for Jim’s release.
“Looking ahead, the Government must review how they respond to cases like Jim’s in the first instance.
“There are hundreds of other UK nationals arbitrarily detained abroad, often in terrible conditions and circumstances.
“Now is the time for the family to rebuild and heal and to get their lives back to normal. I hope that they are given the space to do this.”
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We as a family will never again doubt the kindness of strangers. There’s no kind of playbook in these situations. No one tells you what to do. Jim’s son-in-law Sam Tasker