British Museum faces investigation over looted Ethiopian Tablets held for 150 years
April 2, 2024 | In the PressFrom The Voice (https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2024/04/02/british-museum-faces-investigation-over-looted-ethiopian-tablets-held-for-150-years/)
THE BRITISH Museum is facing a serious investigation over looted sacred Ethiopian Tablets held for over 150 years.
Returning Heritage – a not-for-profit online cultural restitution resource – has made a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about the museum’s collection of stolen Ethiopian Tabots.
This comes after The Voice, exclusively revealed in February, that the Museum said it can lend sacred Ethiopian artefacts to a church in Britain but failed to say if the items would be returned to Africa.
Returning Heritage believes the exemptions the museum is using to keep 11 Tabots – which can only be viewed by priests in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church – have been wrongly applied.
The campaign group and Leigh Day, a leading law firm have submitted a formal complaint to the ICO.
Stolen
Ethiopian Tabots, represent the Ten Commandments and the Ark of the Covenant, and were stolen by British troops during the Battle of Maqdala (formerly Magdala) in 1868.
As the sacred Tabots can only be viewed by priests in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Church, they are not on public display and have been hidden from view for more than 150 years.
The group say the items can be returned to Ethiopia without breaching the British Museum Act 1963.
In an announcement on its website, Returning Heritage said: “Section 5 in the British Museum Act 1963 (‘Disposal of Objects’) allows for objects to be repatriated if, in the opinion of the Trustees, the objects are ‘unfit to be retained’ and can be removed ‘without detriment to the interests of students’”.
“The information sought concerns decision-making by a major public institution on a matter of very significant public interest,” said Tom Short, a solicitor at Leigh Day.
“That the Museum should attempt to withhold such information from public scrutiny is surprising, not least at a time when recent events have shown a clear need for light to be shone on how the Museum conducts its business.”
Returning Heritage say in August 2023, it made a fourth Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the British Museum, inviting it to provide information on key meetings of its Board of Trustees where the issue of the Ethiopian Tabots had been discussed.
But say each time they requested information, the Museum continued to apply the section 27 exemption, meaning the disclosure of the information we’ve requested would prejudice the UK’s relations with another State.
The campaigners say in the past the Museum has forwarded other redacted documents to them and they want clear answers about why the Trustees appear to believe they cannot lawfully remove the Tabots from the Museum’s collection.
They said: “It’s a mystery to us why the British Museum clings on to a group of objects so clearly unsuitable for anywhere other than the sanctity and protection of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.”
‘Special location’
In February the Museum told The Voice, the stolen Ethiopian Tabots are “housed in a special location, and cared for by a committed curatorial and conservation team.
“Crucially they are maintained in consultation with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
“The tabots are available to be visited by Ethiopian Orthodox priests and prelates which is reflective of Church practices.”
When asked by The Voice, if they planned on returning the items to Ethiopia, the Museum said it is “restricted by law from returning objects.”
There has been growing calls for the museum to return the pillaged historical items back to countries in Africa.
Over the years, leading campaigners have criticised the museum for failing to acknowledge that African artefacts have deep cultural, religious and spiritual significance.
The Voice, contacted the British Museum for comment and they said they would not be commenting on this specific matter.
A British Museum spokesperson said: “The British Museum’s collection tells the story of human cultural achievement over 2 million years. The presence of the tabots in the collection, together with other objects from Ethiopia, demonstrate the breadth and diversity of religious traditions in Ethiopia, including Christianity, Islam and Judaism as well as other faiths.”
