Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Iran-U.S. artifact wrangling deepens

|
|
 
  
Published: Aug. 1, 2007 at 1:13 PM

CHICAGO, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A Chicago judge ordered Iran to have an expert testify under oath in the legal wrangling over ownership of ancient Persian clay tablets.

The battle over some 300 tablets at the University of Chicago began in 1997 when relatives of victims of a terror bombing in Jerusalem sued Iran and later won in 2003. The $409 million suit alleged Iran trained the terrorists but Iran refused to pay. Lawyers then sought to sell the tablets to recover the damages, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning ruled on Iran's appeal that the country must provide an expert willing to testify under oath as to ownership of the 2,500-year-old tablets.

Wednesday, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency called Manning's 2003 ruling against Iran a "forged story."

Manning rejected Iran's contention that it is exempt from the U.S. statute governing depositions.

There was no immediate response on the ruling from Tehran or the Rhode Island law firm it hired last year.

© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 30
Valentine's Day Ramallah, West Bank
View Caption
fark
Empire State building IPO issued. Subby also has a bridge to sell you as well
Reverend Sun Myung Moon cedes mass wedding business to Morning Zoo dj's, let's see if anybody notices...
"No, your honor. It's just a social club. That hangs out in the woods. With high powered rifles....
New SI swimsuit cover girl is Republican congressman's niece
Can't sleep. Must eat Pope in woods. And wear his hat. Or something
What booty calls, prostitutes, cigars, the Village People have in common? They are all things FBI...