On July 2, Egyptians were plunged into horror by the news of a child’s murder and the severing of his hands as a sacrifice to a jinn, a supernatural spirit, to open a Pharaonic tomb full of treasures and artifacts in Assiut Governorate in southern Egypt. Egyptian police have arrested three of the victim’s cousins as suspects. Two of them have confessed to the crime, which they carried out in collaboration with an illegal antiquities dealer who wanted to purchase the child’s hands to use as a sacrificial offering. Breaking the Pharaonic curse on buried tombs to acquire hidden treasures and artifacts is spread in many cities around Egypt such as Aswan, Assiut, Hawamdiya in Giza, Dar El-Salam in Cairo, and other areas. According to the Secretary General of the General Union of Arab Archaeologists, Mohamed El-Kahlawy, “Superstitions related to artifact excavation, such as child sacrifices to offer to jinn for easier excavation, have become old methods of fraud.” Statistics indicate that the volume of antiquities trade and smuggling in Egypt reaches USD 20 billion (EGP 972.5 billion) annually. Most of the smuggled artifacts are obtained through secret excavations by…
Superstitions Fuel Widespread Child Sacrifices for Pharaonic Treasures
August 3, 2024
By Nadine Tag
Journalist
