US Returns 77 Looted Antiquities to Yemen, but They Will Remain in Washington Museum

The United States returned 77 looted antiquities to Yemen, though they will remain in a museum in Washington at the request of Yemen, presumably because of the ongoing and devastating civil war in the country. Many of the antiquities were imported into the US from Dubai about a decade ago using false documentation. Under an agreement between Yemen’s internationally recognized government and Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington DC, the preserve the objects for two years, with the option of renewing it at Yemen’s request. The 77 antiquities include 64 relief carved stone heads, 11 Quran manuscript pages, a bronze inscribed bowl, and a Funerary Stele from Minaean tribal cultures in northwest Yemen’s highlands dating back to the 1st century BCE, The New Arab reported, citing Breon Peace, the district attorney for the Eastern District of New York. In 2020 and 2021, at least 700 pieces of looted antiquities were returned to 14 countries, including Cambodia, Egypt, Greece, India, Iraq, Italy and Pakistan.