Don't hand the Benin Bronzes back to Nigeria

Small carved wooden male figure, originating from the 'Benin West Africa Expedition 1897'

Don't hand the Benin Bronzes back to Nigeria - the argument to return them is 'weak', former anti-racism boss says

The British Museum must not succumb to pressure to return the Benin Bronzes to Africa, as the case for their restitution is 'weak', Sir Trevor Phillips has said.

The former head of the Racial Equality Commission said in a report that claims for the artefacts' return 'vary greatly in legitimacy' due to 'highly disputed' historical and political arguments, The Telegraph reported.

The sculptures were crafted in Nigeria in the 1500s and collected by British troops 300 years later.

In 2022, Oxbridge and Cambridge universities approved the return of more than 200 of their Benin Bronzes, part of a collection of some 5,000 plaques and sculptures.

And the museum has since been under pressure to do the same.

Sir Trevor's co-written report, titled Principles of Restitution, said the people of Benin traded slaves with Portuguese merchants in exchange for the brass used in many of the artefacts.

And the slaves' descendants, many of whom reside in the UK and US, also have a cultural claim to the sculptures, the report said.

An artifact belonging to the Benin Bronze collection

Former politician Sir Trevor Phillips (pictured) has said the case for the return of the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria is weak

A man views examples of Benin bronzes which, together with collections such as the Elgin Marbles, are the subject of talks of their return to countries of origin

'The case for accepting the claim for restitution of the Benin Bronzes is weak,' the report found.

'The risk the bronzes might be damaged or confined to a private collection is too great to justify return.'

The report said a legal loophole might see the Elgin Marbles - a collection of ancient Greek marble structures collected from Athens by British nobility, now also residing in the British Museum - returned to Greece.

Museums may return artifacts if there appears to be a 'moral obligation' to do so.

But when considering such calls for restitution, the report says, the significance of the object to the institution in which it resides must be considered.

Also to be taken into account is the artifact's public accessibility and location where it provides most educational benefit.

'Discussions about restitution often imply a moral judgement - the claim an item was unfairly taken and that it has a rightful owner,' the report reads.

'Such claims are increasingly political, contested by nations, political parties and campaign groups who have different perspectives on history, its interpretation and how those living today should engage with it.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14605665/benin-bronzes-nigeria-return-weak-anti-racism-boss.html

A brass penannular bracelet decorated with heavy slanting bands

Commemorative Head of the Oba, or King

Benin Bronzes 

A brass cockerel altar piece, ivory and brass ceremonial objects, brass bells, everyday items such as fans and baskets and a key 'to the king's palace'

Benin Bronze cockerel

Six items

A bronze plaque is one of the six artifacts handed back

The Museum founder bought the ivory objects and the wooden frame from Mr WJ Hider, CBS Royal Navy, in March 1897

An artifact

One of the Nigerian artifacts

The Museum founder bought the ivory objects and the wooden frame in March 1897.

The Ethnological Museum in Berlin has 530 historical objects from the ancient kingdom, including 440 bronzes - considered the most important collection outside the British Museum.

A Benin artwork

The Benin Bronzes (pictured) were crafted from manillas - a traditional form of money made of bronze or copper - brought to Benin by European traders, which were traded for slaves, and then melted down

Head of Queen Mother

Labour's Total Betrayal of Soldiers

Furious army veterans launch campaign against Labour's 'total betrayal' of soldiers who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles

Army veterans will this week launch a campaign against what some feel is Labour's 'total betrayal' of soldiers who served in the Northern Ireland Troubles.

They will make last-ditch appeals to Sir Keir Starmer's government to abandon hugely controversial plans which they fear will expose veterans to 'relentless and vexatious' court prosecutions for events which took place decades ago.

The Parachute Regimental Association is urging all 13,000 veterans of the elite unite to write to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland Secretary, to spare ageing ex-British soldiers from being dragged before the courts for actions taken while on duty during the Troubles.

A draft letter seen by the Mail on Sunday advises veterans to tell Ministers that Parliament should 'be ashamed' of the 'relentless and vexatious pursuit of Northern Ireland veterans [that] has continued for more than 50 years'.

The row centres on Labour's decision to press ahead with repealing the Legacy Act brought in by the last Conservative government and which ended future investigations into Troubles-related violent events apart from those carried out by a new reconciliation commission.

It also sought to offer a conditional amnesty for people suspected of Troubles-related crimes in exchange for co-operation over providing information in connection with specific events although a court later ruled that provision breached human rights rules.

When he was Prime Minister, Boris Johnson hailed the plans as a way to 'draw a line under the Troubles' and to help 'many members of the armed services who continue to face the threat of vexatious prosecutions well into their 70s and 80s'.

British Army veterans welcomed the overall legislation plan as a step toward providing them with the protection from prosecution for which they had campaigned. 

Army veterans will this week launch a campaign against what some feel is Labour's 'total betrayal' of soldiers who served in the Northern Ireland Troubles. Pictured: British troops with their armored personnel carriers surround a blazing barricade near the Andersonstown Police Station in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1979

They will make last-ditch appeals to Sir Keir Starmer's government to abandon hugely controversial plans which they fear will expose veterans to 'relentless and vexatious' court prosecutions for events which took place decades ago

The Parachute Regimental Association is urging all 13,000 veterans of the elite unite to write to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood (pictured) and Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland Secretary, to spare ageing ex-British soldiers from being dragged before the courts for actions taken while on duty during the Troubles

However, the legislation was fiercely opposed by Northern Ireland political parties and by representatives of victims of violence in the conflict between the late 1960s and the Good Friday agreement in 1998.

Last year, Mr Benn reaffirmed the new Labour government's determination to 'repeal and replace' the law which he said 'does not have the support of any of the political parties and victims' groups in Northern Ireland'.

However, in its draft letter, the Parachute Regimental Association calls for a 'Statute of Limitations' on further cases unless a court was persuaded that 'there is truly new evidence.'

It also suggested that in coroner's courts, ageing ex-soldiers unable to remember precise details of actions taken decades ago were 'often pilloried by serried ranks of lawyers' funded by legal aid in Northern Ireland.

The letter asks: 'The Northern Ireland Secretary defends the changes he proposes, insisting that justice must prevail, but for whom?'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14603369/army-veterans-launch-campaign-against-Labours-betrayal-soldiers-served-Northern-Ireland.html

Argentina Requests Arrest Warrant for Ayatollah Khamenei

Argentina Requests Arrest Warrant for Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei

The top prosecutor leading the investigation into the deadliest bombing in Argentina’s history requested an arrest warrant for Iranian “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei this week, identifying him as a key mastermind of the attack.

Prosecutor Sebastián Basso also requested that Argentina formally ask Interpol for a red notice, or request for arrest, for Khamenei and began proceedings for a trial in absentia for the Iranian officials identified as responsible for plotting and executing the bombing. Such a trial would be unprecedented in Argentine history, as the nation only modified its penal code to allow for such trials last year.

The 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) headquarters was the deadliest terrorist attack documented in the Western Hemisphere before 2001, killing 85 people and leaving dozens injured. Argentine investigators for years have followed the evidence to senior leaders of the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah and top officials within the Iranian government.

In 2007, Interpol announced it had approved requests for red notices for 6 individuals with links to the Iranian government, but initially failed to move against the president at the time, Ali Rafsanjani, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, or ambassador to Argentina, Hadi Soleimanpour.

Velayati and Soleimanpour are among those Basso requested a trial in absentia for; Rafsanjani died in 2017.

The terror attack has been a source of decades of political controversy in Argentina, particularly following the decision of leftist former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to sign a memorandum of understanding with Iran that essentially buried the investigation. Fernández, who served as vice president in the administration preceding that of current President Javier Milei, is being prosecuted for that decision currently, in addition to enduring several legal proceedings on corruption charges.

Basso replaced prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who died in January 2015 under mysterious circumstances. The government of Fernández de Kirchner wrote that he had committed suicide a day before he was to appear before Congress with evidence that her government had conspired to protect the Iranian perpetrators of the crime. A draft arrest warrant for Fernández was found in Nisman’s trash bin.

According to the Argentine newspaper La Nación, Basso wrote in his request for arrest warrants on Wednesday that the AMIA bombing, and a similar but less deadly attack on the Israeli embassy in 1992, could not have been possible without Iranian regime support from the highest levels of power. Prior investigations by Argentina identified several members of the jihadist terror organization Hezbollah as directly responsible for the on-the-ground logistics of the bombing.

“The sponsorship of Hezbollah’s armed struggle outside of Lebanon on the part of the political organization that controls the destiny of Iran was, and continues to be, the main support of the given criminal association,” Basso wrote.

Khamenei should be arrested personally, he explained, because “everything in Iran related to foreign policy and use of force passes through him.” He identified a meeting in 1994 in Tehran in which he alleged that Khamenei presided over plans to conduct the bombing.

“Since always, and to this date, Khamenei is the main supporter of groups that possess military capacity such as Hezbollah,” his request emphasized.

The prosecutor rejected the possibility that, as supreme leader, Khamenei enjoyed legal immunity, writing that “a sensible analysis of the matter … does not support immunity of this nature before his responsibility for a terrorist crime against humanity.”

The long list of individuals Basso requested a trial in absentia for, regarding the Amia bombing, included, in addition to the aforementioned, Iranian cleric Alí Fallahijan, Expediency Council member Mohsen Rezai, former defense minister Ahmad Vahidi, Latin America terror liaison Mohsen Rabbani, Argentina-based diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari, and accused Hezbollah members Salman Raouf Salman, Hussein Mounir Mouzannar, and Abdallah Salman. Not all of those named appear to still be alive at press time.

La Nación reported that the judge responsible for the case has already decided to move forward with a trial in absentia, an unprecedented event in the nation’s history. The law that allows for such trials was formalized in February and limited only to egregious crimes and those committed on Argentine soil.

While Argentina has not yet processed the individuals in question in a trial, the country’s Federal Criminal Cassation Court ruled a year ago that Iran and Hezbollah were jointly responsible for both the 1992 and larger 1994 attacks. This ruling, while a significant step forward in the justice process, did not result in the prosecution of any individuals.

https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2025/04/11/argentina-request-arrest-warrant-for-irans-ayatollah-khamenei/

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner (left) and prosecutor Alberto Nisman (right) who was murdered a day before he was due to accuse her in Congress of covering up the Iranian bombing in 1994

Federal police agents in charge of protecting Nisman (pictured) had alerted their superiors that he wasn't answering their phone calls 

When Nisman's mother wasn't able to open his door because a key was in the lock on the other side, a locksmith was called to open it. A .22 caliber handgun and a shell casing were found next to Nisman's body

Sara Garfunkel, mother of late prosecutor Alberto Nisman

Police carry the body of prosecutor Alberto Nisman outside his house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was found dead with a gunshot to the head.

Federal prosecutor Viviana Fein confirmed that Mr Nisman died of a .22 caliber gunshot wound. Pictured is an Argentine Federal Police forensic unit carrying his body away from his home

People gather outside the headquarters of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) during a demonstration to demand justice over the death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman in Buenos Aires

Firefighters and rescue workers search through the rubble of the Buenos Aires Jewish Community centre in this July 18, 1994 picture after a car bomb rocked the building, killing 84 people and injuring 300 others. Mr Nisman said there had been a cover-up over finding the culprits

Alberto Nisman (pictured) was discovered dead in his own apartment a day before he was due to testify about his claims

Alberto Nisman had accused President Cristina Fernandez (pictured) of covering up Iran's role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires that left 85 dead

Officials in Argentina were unable to locate ex-counter intelligence boss Antonio Stiusso (pictured) 

The 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre, run by the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association,  left 85 dead