Egypt arrests two over nude tourists on pyramid

Egyptian authorities yesterday arrested a camel driver and a woman accused of having helped two Danes scale the Great Pyramid of Giza to take a video and naked photograph, sparking outrage in the country. The interior ministry said the woman had put the pair into contact with the camel driver who took them to the site illegally at night on November 29 for 4,000 Egyptian pounds ($225, 200 euros).

The two had acknowledged their role in the incident and would be put on trial. In a video called “Climbing the Great Pyramid of Giza”, Danish photographer Andreas Hvid appears to scale the 4,500-year-old tomb on the outskirts of Cairo with a woman who is later seen removing her top.

Hvid says the video was shot in late November and posted on YouTube on December 8, setting in motion an investigation by Egypt’s public prosecutor. The nearly three-minute video has so far notched up 4.5 million views on YouTube, while stirring a public outcry in Egypt. “A 7,000-year-old civilisation has turned into a bed sheet,” a Twitter user in Egypt lamented.