AhlulBayt News Agency: Yemeni government has recovered the statue of the Qataban king known as “Shahr Hilal“, along with 15 other artifacts dating back to between the 4th century BC and the 1st century AD, from French authorities after five years of legal and diplomatic efforts, officials announced Saturday.
Mohammed Jumeh, Yemen’s representative to UNESCO, stated that the recovered pieces—which include stone statues and funerary steles—“have become the property of the Yemeni government and have been placed in a secure location in Paris at the official request of the government, until conditions allow their transfer to Yemen.”
He explained that the artifacts had been part of a collection owned by a French citizen of Italian descent, who possessed over 100 Yemeni antiquities. Some were once held in European museums before being illegally transferred to France.
The retrieved artifacts are believed to date back to the Qataban kingdom, whose capital once thrived in Shabwa governorate.
Yemeni antiquities researcher Abdullah Mohsen reported that the items were seized in early 2020 during a routine police inspection at a warehouse on the outskirts of Paris. This triggered lengthy investigations and legal proceedings involving French authorities and the Yemeni Embassy in Paris, culminating in a court ruling for their return to Yemen.
For years, Yemen has been working to reclaim hundreds of smuggled antiquities, many of which have surfaced at auctions in Europe and the US, as the country continues to endure nearly a decade of conflict.
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