Minister of Antiquities Dr. Khaled El-Enany called an emergency meeting of the National Committee for Repatriated Antiquities, to be held early in the week under his chairmanship and attended by former Minister of Antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass and leaders of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Justice, the Public Prosecution, the State Lawsuits Authority, and the state's security, oversight and sovereign bodies. The meeting will discuss the auction held on July 3 and 4 at Christie's auction house in London, the steps that will be completed and the legal measures the authorities will take following the sale of a number of Egyptian artefacts, most notably a stone head of King Tutankhamun.
El-Enany stressed that the Ministry of Antiquities and state agencies will not hesitate to take any measures to recover Egyptian antiquities that left Egypt illegally, wherever they are found and regardless of when they left, even if decades ago.
He noted that Egypt will continue the policy it has pursued for many years to recover its antiquities, which has resulted in the recovery of thousands of artefacts from 15 countries over the past few years through diplomatic and legal channels and in accordance with the relevant international laws and conventions.
It should be noted that as soon as the announcement of the sale of these artefacts was detected, the Ministries of Antiquities and Foreign Affairs contacted Christie's auction house in London, UNESCO and the British Foreign Office to halt the sale proceedings and impound the pieces, and requested the documents proving their ownership, as well as asserting Egypt's right to recover them under current and previous Egyptian laws.
