CAIRO: Supreme Council of Antiquities Chief Zahi Hawas announced that he will return a stolen statue of a Mesopotamian woman to her home country in Iraq at a press conference in the Egyptian Museum on Sunday. "We sent many letters to the governments of America and Britain to protect the ancient artifacts, said Hawas. Iraqi ambassador to Egypt Abdel Hady Fadel said that Iraq is currently cooperating with UNESCO and the Interpol to end the smuggling of ancient artifacts out of Iraq which began after the US-led 2003 invasion. "There are still many ancient artifacts from Iraq that are still missing. At the press conference, crowds swarmed around the green statue of a Mesopotamian woman wearing scaled skirts. "It is extraordinarily beautiful, said Hawas while holding up the ancient artifact. Hawas could not confirm whether the statue was of an ancient Mesopotamian goddess. Egyptian authorities recovered the artifact when a man was trying to smuggle it into Egypt through Nuweiba. Hawas has been at the forefront of a crusade to end all forms of antiquities smuggling and sale in the black market.
