Antiquities | After Destroying Roman Tombs, ECESR Notices Minister, Alexandria Governor

The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) served the Minister of Antiquities and the Governor of Alexandria a notice handed by a process server for their criminal and civil responsibility regarding the incident of filling up roman tombs in Alexandria by a contracting company.

The notice also included the Head of Middle Alexandria Neighborhood and the Director of Engineering at Middle Alexandria Neighborhood for their criminal and civil responsibility regarding the filling up of tombs dating back to the Roman era and the beginnings of the Hellenic era. The tombs are about 1288 meters, and are part of the eastern cemetery on the coast of Alexandria. The tombs were uncovered two years ago, and was under the responsibility of the ministry during this period before it surrenders the site for no viable reasons. This allowed the contractor to fill up the tombs and destroy a great portion of them to build a residential building by the sea.

This is not the first time the interests of contracting companies result in destroying antiquities and heritage. The city recently witnessed various attempts to destroy its history. The incident of filling up the archeological site constitutes an outrageous violation of international covenants on the protection of antiquities, not to mention the Egyptian constitution and laws protecting antiquities.