Iraq

Arrest over theft of 'Saddam's buttock'

The director of a war relic art firm is being questioned by police after he tried to sell a piece of bronze from a Saddam Hussein’s statue.

Jim Thorpe had acted as an agent for the ex-soldier who brought the souvenir- a piece of Saddam's buttock - back from Baghdad, but it failed to sell at auction last year.

A new Iraqi law has been passed, concerning the illegal removal of cultural property.

Mr Thorpe has hidden the piece of statue for safekeeping but he was arrested this morning.