The grandson of Anwar Sadat has submitted a formal complaint to parliament decrying the recent sale of the former Egyptian president’s diplomatic passport through Texas-based Heritage Auctions.
The complaint was addressed to Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and the ministers of foreign affairs, culture and tourism by Karim Sadat, a parliamentarian and member of the ruling Mostaqbal Watan majority party.
Mr Sadat formally requested that an official investigation be launched to determine how the passport came to leave Egypt and make its way into the hands of a private buyer.
The passport, which was listed as sold on Heritage Auction's official website on Sunday morning, was valid from 1979 until 1981, the year his grandfather died during the annual celebration of Egypt, Syria and Jordan’s October 6, 1973 victory against Israel. The conflict was one of the defining moments of Mr Sadat’s 11-year presidency.
The auction house confirmed in its listing that the passport had been authenticated. The listing included several photos of the passport. One included a page with a black and white photograph of the former president.
It sold for $47,500 on Wednesday.
“It is our right to know how our heritage and the personal belongings of Egypt’s presidents have made their way there and are being sold. Why isn’t the state the one benefiting from the belongings of people who gave their lives for Egypt,” Mr Sadat told Salet El Tahrir, a popular pro-government talk show, on Saturday night.
He vehemently denied that the family had anything to do with the sale.
“All we’re asking for is to find out who was responsible for this.”
The late president’s wife Jehan Sadat had donated a collection of his belongings to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which went on display in a dedicated museum in 2009.
Ahmed Zayed, the library’s director, told the same talk show in a separate phone-in that there was no record of the auctioned passport being among the donated items.
The collection donated to the library included Sadat’s military uniform, the traditional garb of his rural village, which he wore when he visited, and the suit he was wearing when he was assassinated in Cairo, Mr Zayed confirmed.
“These items were logged and stored properly. They never contained a passport, diplomatic or otherwise,” Mr Zayed told the talk show on Saturday night. “I don’t think it would have been legal for us to even accept a passport as part of the collection. It is typically owned by the state, not private individuals. We are hearing and reading unsavoury things about the way in which the passport could have left Egypt but either way we had nothing to do with it.”
However, on Thursday, Bab Masr, a news outlet dedicated to Egyptian heritage, published an investigative report about the sale that included a screenshot of a 2018 Facebook post made by the Sadat Museum which contained photos of Sadat’s diplomatic passport.
The passport in the museum’s Facebook post appeared to be the same as the one in the Heritage Auctions listing.
The National could not independently verify the screenshots.
Mr Zayed and other representatives from the Bibliotheca refused to comment on the report and Bab Masr said the Facebook post in question was deleted after it had contacted the Sadat Museum.
Additionally, Wednesday’s sale was not the first time Sadat’s diplomatic passport had gone on sale.
Paul Topol, a passport historian, told Bab Masr that he had authenticated the passport ahead of a proposed separate sale 10 years ago.
The passport was not sold at the time, he said, because the seller requested $50,000, which the prospective buyer refused.
Passports are legally the property of the state that issued them and they can be recalled or cancelled, according to Mr Topol, but he said it was unlikely that the Egyptian government will be able to retrieve it because more than 40 years have passed since it was issued.
Most passports can be retrieved by their issuing government for between 30 and 40 years after someone has died, he said.
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
Winner: AF Al Moreeb, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
Winner: AF Makerah, Adrie de Vries, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap | Dh80,000 | 2,200m
Winner: Hazeme, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle
6.30pm: Handicap | Dh85,000 | 2,200m
Winner: AF Yatroq, Brett Doyle, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Shadwell Farm for Private Owners Handicap | Dh70,000 | 2,200m
Winner: Nawwaf KB, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh100,000 | 1,600m
Winner: Treasured Times, Bernardo Pinheiro, Rashed Bouresly
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
Dr Graham's three goals
Short term
Establish logistics and systems needed to globally deploy vaccines
Intermediate term
Build biomedical workforces in low- and middle-income nations
Long term
A prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Five hymns the crowds can join in
Papal Mass will begin at 10.30am at the Zayed Sports City Stadium on Tuesday
Some 17 hymns will be sung by a 120-strong UAE choir
Five hymns will be rehearsed with crowds on Tuesday morning before the Pope arrives at stadium
‘Christ be our Light’ as the entrance song
‘All that I am’ for the offertory or during the symbolic offering of gifts at the altar
‘Make me a Channel of your Peace’ and ‘Soul of my Saviour’ for the communion
‘Tell out my Soul’ as the final hymn after the blessings from the Pope
The choir will also sing the hymn ‘Legions of Heaven’ in Arabic as ‘Assakiroo Sama’
There are 15 Arabic speakers from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the choir that comprises residents from the Philippines, India, France, Italy, America, Netherlands, Armenia and Indonesia
The choir will be accompanied by a brass ensemble and an organ
They will practice for the first time at the stadium on the eve of the public mass on Monday evening
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
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Price: On request
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About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
