RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is tightening laws, enforcing penalties and uniting agencies to combat the illicit trade of historical artifacts.
Mohammed Mahnashi, legal team director at the Ministry of Culture’s Heritage Commission, spoke to Arab News at the International Conference on Combating Trafficking in Cultural Property in Riyadh on Thursday about the new measures.
Mahnashi said that the Kingdom kept a national registry for movable antiquities, with explicit criteria for listing artifacts and rules for auction licensing.
“Penalties have real teeth,” he said. Mahnashi explained that violators could face up to seven years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to SR500,000 ($133,300) — or both — for the illegal seizure of state-owned antiquities, alongside sanctions for forgery and replica production, all codified in a dedicated violations chapter.
“The executive regulations translate law into daily practice,” he said. Rules govern what may be traded and where, restrict trade to within the Kingdom, and grant the Heritage Commission the right of preemption when licensed sales occur.
