Yemeni researcher Abdullah Mohsen revealed that “a Yemeni bronze statue will be displayed at the famous Bonhams auction house in London at the beginning of next December,” as Yemeni antiquities have been smuggled and sold at auctions for decades.

He said - in a post on his Facebook page - “A bronze statue from Yemeni antiquities, about 2,200 years old, was found in Al-Jawf Governorate, and is 8 cm high. It is known as the “Statue of Confession and Public Repentance.”

He pointed out that she "escaped from Yemen in 1997 to the United States and was sold at Christie's auction in New York in 1999, and became part of the Alan Dershowitz and Caroline Cohen collection."

Researcher Mohsen explained: “A study was conducted on the statue in the German Museum regarding the method of casting, and it was confirmed that it was cast in Yemen, and that it is from one of the temples of Al-Jawf.”

The study was conducted by Harald Schulz and Barbara Yandel, and was published in 2012. On June 2, 2017, it was sold at a public auction in London for an undisclosed price at the buyer’s request, according to the researcher.

Researcher Mohsen publishes news from time to time about selling Yemeni antiquities at international auctions, in light of the increasing rates of antiquities smuggling in Yemen during the past years of war.