Suspicions prevail on smuggled artifacts in Arab world

CAIRO – 11 October 2017: New candidate for leadership of UNESCO, Hamd El Kowary, is suspected be involved in smuggling antiquities and ruining archeological sites in Iraq and Syria, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

UNESCO previously called for a world campaign to preserve and protect heritage and antiquities globally. Qatar has been accused for smuggling Egyptian antiquities following the 25th January revolution.

Some of the smuggled Egyptian antiquities were Islamic artifacts that were sold throughout international auctions. El Kowary has been suspected of smuggling artifacts and antiquities from all four countries Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt onto Israel and Qatar.

The UNESCO is currently running elections for a new leader. Egypt’s candidate for the UNESCO Director-General post, Moushira Khattab, maintained the third rank with 12 votes out of 58, following the withdrawal of Polad Bülbüloğlu of Azerbaijan on Tuesday a few hours before the beginning of the second round. This marks a slight change from the first round when Khattab received 11 votes, Egypt Today reported earlier.

Egyptian candidate Khattab received 12 votes, while Hamad bin Abdul Aziz Al-Kawari of Qatar ended up with 20 votes, Audrey Azoulay from France with 13 votes, Pham Sanh Chau of Vietnam with five votes, Qian Tang from China with five votes, and Vera El Khoury Lacoeuilhe from Lebanon with three votes.

The Qatari candidate received 20 votes in the second round, raising questions about financial bribes, which the Qatari regime allegedly utilizes to buy supportive voices.