The New Frontier of Cultural Property Protections: When Acquiring Cultural Objects Supports Terrorism

By Timur Tusiray

The United States Anti-Terror Act, 18 USC 2331, et seq. (“ATA”or the “Anti-Terror Act”), a potent anti-terrorism law (enacted in 1991) often used to prosecute financial institutions and other organizations, has now been identified as a tool to pursue individuals who operate in the cultural property market for materially supporting foreign terrorist organizations (“FTO”). In relevant parts it reads “Whoever knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned…” (18 U.S.C. § 2339B(b)). The implications of such a development are wide-ranging, and understanding them will be key for practitioners and individuals active in cultural property acquisitions.

Recent tumultuous events involving the illicit looting and trafficking of cultural objects from Syria and Iraq by the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (“ISIL” formerly known as ISIS), an FTO, have many wondering how the illicit traffic of cultural heritage may be checked. The question is made more urgent by the tragic beheading of Professor Khaled al-As’ad, a university professor and former general manager of antiquities and museums in Palmyra, and the destruction of historic temples in the same region.