Zahi Hawass has been sentenced to one year in jail and “must be relieved of his government duties”.
At the moment, it is somewhat difficult to determine precisely what “land dispute” the article is referring to, but it is probably linked with an ongoing issue related to the recently-opened new gift shop at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Basically, Hawass is accused of manipulating the process used to determine who had the rights to operate a gift shop in the Egyptian Museum. He apparently ignored the verdict of the court when it called for an auction of that concession, which is likely what the article refers to when it says he refused to “fulfill a court ruling over a land dispute.” For more information on the case, the Talking Pyramids site provides a summary of the Egyptian Museum gift shop saga.
From the reports, this whole situation is quite problematic. Will update as more information emerges.
UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, Hawass immediately stated that he would appeal. The sentence is suspended until that ruling.
