Egypt: Viral video shows Wafd party members 'planning antique smuggling'
A video has gone viral on social media showing members of Egypt’s liberal nationalist Wafd party discussing the smuggling of antiquities while apparently inside their party’s headquarters.
Footage shows members of the party discussing sending two antique pieces to a seller who requests proof of authenticity.
The revelations, which have not been independently verified as authentic by Middle East Eye, have sparked outrage in Egypt.
Wafd, which is a descendant of one of the oldest political groups in Egypt, has announced an investigation into the issue.
Abdel-Sanad Yamama, the head of the party, told TV channel MBC Masr that the video was manufactured by a paid agent in order to harm the party's reputation.
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The party also claims the video is more than a year old, with one of the three men featured having died a while ago.
Party officials also insist that the members in the video are “regular members” with no links to its leadership, though one of them is reportedly former major general Safir Nour, a former aide to Egypt’s interior minister.
Spokesperson for the party Yasser al-Hudaibi told Saudi channel Al Arabiya that the two living members in the video were called in for questioning on 9 July but did not show up.
They were granted one more chance to defend themselves on 10 July before the party’s committee takes a “final decision”.
No further information on the investigations or the party’s decision have been released at this point.
The two members were also banned from accessing Wafd’s headquarters and had their membership suspended until the end of the investigation.
Officials refused to say whether the video was taken in their headquarters, but said the video had been sent to a committee for verification.
“Why send it to another committee? You have your offices,” the Al Arabiya presenter asked al-Hudaibi, adding that the video had a portrait of Saad Zaghloul, the founder of the party. “You enter your offices, you see them, you know your offices.”
Al-Hudaibi said that Zaghloul is a national figure in Egypt, meaning his portraits could be anywhere, and added that artificial intelligence could have played a role in the video.
Criminal proceedings are expected to be carried out by Egyptian authorities once the Wafd party completes its investigation.
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