AFP

CAIRO- A Cairo court on Wednesday acquitted Egypt's state minister for antiquities, Zahi Hawass, after he appealed a one-year jail sentence over a property dispute, the official MENA news agency reported.
Hawass, who was named minister of antiquities in March, headed the Supreme Council of Antiquities and was minister of state under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, was sentenced in April for renting out the shop and bookstore at the Egyptian Museum to the Sound and Light Organisation.

Zahi Hawass

The suit filed against him claimed he did not go through an open bidding process for renting out the shop.
The sentence had been suspended until the appeal ruling. As well as the year in prison, Hawass had been fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds (more than $1,600) in damages plus interest.
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