Q & A with Egyptologist Fayza Haikal

Since 25 January, Egypt’s many museums and archaeological sites have been the victims of looting. Yesterday, it was announced that 54 items are missing from the Egyptian Museum, contrary to the claims of former Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass. With the constant stream of information often contradicting itself, Al-Masry Al-Youm appealed to an expert.

On 7 March, Fayza Haikal, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, contributed to a blog post on the New Statesman website called “Egyptologists Speak Out”. In it, she and her co-authors discuss the media coverage of the looting, particularly of the Egyptian Museum, which they describe as reflecting “racism and intolerance”. Attention, they argue, should be given to the Egyptians who risked their lives to protect the antiquities.