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Iranian businessman 'mutilated' priceless British Library books

A millionaire Iranian businessman faces jail for "mutilating" a number of priceless rare books, some almost 500 years old, to improve his own collection.

Knightsbridge-based Farhad Hakimzadeh, chairman of the Iranian Heritage Foundation, cut out pages from manuscripts at the British Library and Oxford University's Bodleian Library.

He removed the pages with a scalpel that he smuggled into the institutions' rare books reading rooms, hiding his actions from CCTV cameras installed to protect the books. Then he took the pages home and inserted them in his own inferior copies.

Police said Hakimzadeh, 60, the director of a company that publishes books on the Middle East and a published author, was likely to be jailed for his actions.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)