Ekeomah Atuonwu
A former Member of Parliament among others has been sentenced to ten years in prison by an Egyptian court for smuggling antiquities out of the country.
Alaa Hassanein, a former MP, and four others face ten years in prison, while Hassan Rateb, a prominent businessman, and 17 others face five years. They were all fined one million Egyptian pounds ($54,000).
Egypt has significantly increased its efforts in recent years to combat antiquities trafficking, which flourished in the aftermath of a 2011 uprising that toppled long-time autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak.
The state news report did not specify the type of antiquities being smuggled, but it did state that in some cases, the convicted had organized and funded secret excavations.
Egypt is still rich in undiscovered ancient sites dating back to the Pharaohs’ time, as well as the Greek and Roman eras.
In recent years, the country has warned foreign museums that it will not assist them in mounting exhibits on ancient Egyptian antiquities unless they return smuggled artifacts. Since 2016, the Antiquities Ministry has retrieved over 1,000 artifacts and approximately 22,000 ancient coins.
In 2019, the ministry displayed a gilded ancient coffin from the first century BC that had been returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by US investigators after it was determined to be a looted antiquity.
