Late last week, former minister of antiquities Zahi Hawass came under fire in accusations that he had helped German archaeologists steal materials from the Pyramid of the pharaoh Khufu on the Giza Plateau. He vigorously denied the charges. Last year, two German archaeologists from Dresden University, Dominique Goerlitz and Stefan Erdmann, stole samples of a cartouche of Khufu from a room above the king's burial chamber inside the Great Pyramid, the oldest and largest in Egypt and the only surviving monument of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The men stole the samples and took them to Germany in order to support their claims that the Pyramid was not the resting place of Khufu but was a monument from an even older empire. They then published their research on the Internet. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Heritage imposed penalties on both German archaeologists and took legal action against them on charges of robbery. Following an international outcry, the samples were returned, and the men were put on trial in absentia along with five Egyptian officials accused of helping the Germans illegally enter the Pyramid. The seven defendants were convicted on 10 November this year. However, during the trial it was claimed that Hawass had facilitated the theft of the samples, and the judge summoned Hawass for questioning. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Hawass denied all the accusations levelled against him, saying they were groundless. “I have just been to the prosecutor myself in order to prove that what happened in 2010 was done in accordance with the law,” he said. In a telephone interview, Hawass said that he had left his job as minister in mid-2011, two years before the crime took place in April 2013. He said that as antiquities minister he had given the go-ahead for a documentary about the Great Pyramid filmed in 2010. “But during the filming no one touched the cartouche and no one even put their hand near it,” he said. Since leaving his post in the aftermath of the 25 January Revolution, Hawass has been accused by former colleagues of neglecting Egypt's heritage sites and sending unique artefacts abroad, such as during two Tutankhamun exhibitions in 2008. Further complaints have accused Hawass of making illicit gains as a result of his position. After two years of investigations into the complaints, the Public Funds Prosecution Service dismissed the allegations and cleared Hawass of all the charges against him. The investigations showed that all Egyptian antiquities displayed abroad had been done through legal means and had been secured against any damage. All the revenues from such international exhibitions had been placed in government coffers, investigators said. Hawass has gained prominence in the international media throughout his career, appearing in documentaries and television series including “Chasing Mummies: The Amazing Adventures of Zahi Hawass,” which was aired on the History Channel in 2010. Awarded a doctorate in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987, Hawass is the author or co-author of several books, his latest being Ancient African Kingdoms on the Nile: Nubia, released in 2012. He was profiled as one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2006.
