German teen faces life ban from Egypt after scaling Khufu pyramid - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online

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German teen faces life ban from Egypt after scaling Khufu pyramid

The young tourist climbed to the top of the Great Pyramid in Giza where he took photos and videos which he posted online

Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 3 Feb 2016

Photo taken by the German tourist atop Khufu

Egypt's antiquities ministry sent an official notice to the German embassy in Egypt to ban a young German tourist from visiting Egypt in the future after he illegally scaled a pyramid in Giza, Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty announced today.

The 18-year-old Andrej Ciesielski illegally climbed the Great Pyramid of Khufu earlier this week to shoot collection of photographs and videos of the Giza Plateau from the pyramid's summit.

Egypt has strict rules against scaling pyramids, which is punishable by up to three years in prison.

Ciesielski was arrested by the antiquities and tourism police but was later released because of his ignorance of the law, the antiquities ministry said, adding that the teen promised not to repeat the stunt.

Hussein Abdel-Bassir, the director-general of the Giza Plateau, told Ahram Online that although the photos and the videos were confiscated, Ciesielski managed to post them on Facebook.

Abdel-Bassir added that Ciesielski also took videos and photographs without permission from the antiquities ministry.