Another Jail Sentence

As reported in the Independent, Farhad Hakimzadeh, the prominent Iranian scholar who pleaded guilty to charges of literary mutilation, has been sentenced to two years in jail. The investigation into Hakimzadeh's actions revealed that, over many years, Hakimzadeh sliced pages out of approximately 150 books in the British Library's collection of ancient and rare manuscripts in order to enhance his personal collection. Hakimzadeh's actions caused damages estimated to be £145,000. Hakimzadeh's barrister argued that his client was motivated by obsessive compulsive disorder and that the thefts were an "aberration."