Parliament calls for awareness campaign to combat illegal archaeological excavation

CAIRO – 24 April 2017: Member of the Tourism and Civil Aviation Committee in the Egyptian Parliament called Sunday for a governmental awareness campaign to address illegal archaeological excavation which has largely expanded and led to several deaths.
MP Zeinab Salem stated that laws and regulations are not enough to combat this phenomenon, and awareness is the only solution.

“The state has to adopt a big awareness campaign to introduce citizens to the importance of our artifacts, so that they preserve them instead of illegally excavating and smuggling them abroad,” Salem stated.

Several deaths and arrests have been recorded recently due to illegal searches for archaeological artifacts beneath residential buildings.

One man was killed in a building collapse in Cairo on April 17 while excavating the site to search for archaeological artifacts. Two others were killed in a similar incident in February 2017 when a house-owner in Asyut governorate was digging for artifacts beneath a building.

Ten suspects were also arrested in early March 2017 after being accused of illegal archaeological excavation under a residential building in 6th October City; and seven others were arrested in April over accusations of carrying out illegal excavation works beneath Pharaonic King Ramses II’s chapel in Aswan.

“Awareness is the only solution to deal with the crisis and put the citizen in charge of preserving our Egyptian monuments,” Salem stated, demanding the elimination of corruption, bribery and the dismantling of centers of power and mafia merchants of antiquities