Egypt parliament approves punitive measures for antiquity climbers

Egypt’s parliament has approved amendments to the antiquities protection law, stipulating that anyone who climbs onto antiquities, or violates public morals with them, will be punished.

Those convicted of carrying out any of the two acts will be sentenced to no less than a month in prison or fined no more than 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($6,356), or receive both a jail term and a fine.

The penalty will be increased for multiple offenders.

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Egypt has been putting in place legislation to protect antiquities which have been damaged or smuggled out of the country as a result of the 2011 revolution and the following military coup.

In 2016, Egypt and the US signing a bilateral agreement to stop the import of smuggled artefacts.

According to National Geographic, the initiative represented the first bilateral cultural property agreement between the US and a nation in the Middle East or North Africa.