Verdicts in Egypt Museum Theft

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Ahram Online, 'Egypt judge gives verdicts in Van Gogh Poppy Painting theft', Sunday 6 May 2012:

Six Egyptian officials have been given sentences from six months to a year following the trial concerning the theft of a Van Gogh Poppy Painting from a Cairo museum:

Egypt's Court of Cassation, headed by Judge Ahmed Mohamed Yehia, imprisoned Mohsen Shaalan, former undersecretary of the ministry of culture for a year and Sobhy Mohamed, the museum's former director general of security, to six months. [...] Shaalan is to be sentenced a year in prison on charges of negligence and incompetence in the performance of his duties, which permitted the theft of Van Gogh's famous Poppy Painting from the Museum of Mr and Mrs Mahmoud Khalil in Dokki. The court also imprisoned three other museum workers to six months: the museum's deputy, director and head of security (Maria Mishay, Reem Ahmed and Adel Mohammed, respectively). [...] The Poppy Painting was stolen from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in August 2010, due to lax security.

The painting itself has yet to be found.

Vignette: Museum under surveillance.