May 5, 2011 – We all have seen the situation in various Indiana Jones movies. The bold hero has his back to the wall; everything and everybody is against him; the noose is slowly tightening on him… Well, then the theme tune sounds and – hey presto! – all difficulties are eliminated.
Indiana Jones’s alter ego, Dr. Zahi Hawass, seems to dispose of similar qualities. We just heard that he was not reelected Minister of Antiquities, when the Egyptian cabinet was reshuffled on March 3, 2011; but now we learn that he continues in office, because he was reappointed on March 30, 2011.
Even Egyptian courts seem impotent. On April 17, 2011, the criminal court of Giza sentenced Hawass to one year in jail combined with forced labor and a fine. But on April 18, 2011 the National Council of Egypt’s Administrative Court issued a decree, which cancelled the verdict against Hawass without a new trial.
Zahi Hawass does not need to care about it. For ages he has prepared his retirement and has secured his regular income even after leaving the civil service: The fashion label Art Zulu promotes a menswear line named after Hawass. Oh well, the famous hat à la Indiana Jones does not form part of this fashion line. This hat has been brought to the market by Hawass himself.
By the way, on the internet you could find the information that Hawass was going to found his own reality show named “Return that loot”. He wanted to visit museums, to spot looted objects and tell their stories. A television jury was planned to vote, whether this object could stay in the museum or not. Even though this story about the publicity-seeking archaeologist carried conviction: it was just an April fools’ joke.
If you want to know more about the accusations concerning the bookshop of the Egyptian Museum, click here and here.
Information about the verdict and its suspension you will find here.
Zahi Hawass’s own version can be found here.
Here you will find the fashion label “Zahi Hawass”.
The April fools’ joke can be read here.
If you want to buy an original Hawass-hat at the King Tut Store, click here.