A poem that mixed reality and fantasy in which Mohammed al Saeed of Saudi Arabia professed a profound love for his homeland earned him a spot in the finals of the Million's Poet competition.
The semifinals of the televised competition began on Wednesday night, and Mr al Saeed won the judges' vote to become the first poet to reach the final round.
Three other poets who competed Wednesday night - Hessa Hilal of Saudi Arabia, Ali al Merri of Qatar and Falah al Muwreqqi of Kuwait - must await the results of SMS and online voting to learn which two will join Mr al Saeed in the finals.
"I bear witness that you are indeed a poet," Dr Ghassan al Hassan, a member of the jury, told Mr al Saeed. He said the work was unique because the poet used a "debate style" in expressing his feelings. "You also used a lot of poetic imagination, which helped in delivering the message," the judge said.
Ms Hilal addressed her homeland's worries and troubles in her poem. Dr al Hassan said her poem revolved around one idea throughout, which did not benefit the piece as a whole.
But another judge praised her work. "The first five verses had strong poetic language," Sultan al Amimi said. "There were a lot of non-alive objects transformed into alive ones, such as the 'faces of truth' ... which added a lot of beauty and poetic language to the piece."
Four more poets will compete in the second round of semifinals next week, to determine the last three spots in the finals. They are Jazaa al Baqmi and Mastoura al Ahmadi of Saudi Arabia and Sultan al Asaimar and Nasser al Ajami of Kuwait.
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
