Taha Baqir and the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet

Imported to the US in 2003, the tablet was resold in 2007 with a false 1981 provenance. Hobby Lobby bought it in 2014; a federal judge forfeited it on 26 July 2021.

US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, press release, 27 July 2021; ICE news release, 18 May 2020, on the civil forfeiture complaint

Taha Baqir, Gilgamesh's Arabic translator, and a looted Gilgamesh tablet forfeited in the US in 2021.

Sources3 sources

Primary source

US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, Rare Cuneiform Tablet Bearing Portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh Forfeited to the United States (press release, 27 July 2021), 2021The tablet's passage: the hero tells his mother his dreams and she reads them as a new friend's arrival.
You will see him and your heart will laugh
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Civil action filed to forfeit rare cuneiform tablet from Hobby Lobby (news release, 18 May 2020), 2020The forfeiture complaint was filed in May 2020; it refers to 'the Antiquities Dealer' and 'the Auction House' without names.
a civil complaint was filed Monday to forfeit a rare cuneiform tablet

Where this claim originates

Wikipedia contributors, Taha Baqir (citing his Cambridge obituary), 2026, leadTaha Baqir (1912-1984) translated the Epic of Gilgamesh from Akkadian into Arabic.
Baqir is known for his direct Akkadian to Arabic translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh