"Let them go!", "This is a loaf of bread." - Robert Bauval (2014)
"Enough is enough" - Dominique Görlitz (2014)

The Great Pyramid of Giza has found its way into the center of a recent scandal involving six Egyptians, three German tourists, two Egyptian authority figures, one puzzled author and Partridge in a Pear Tree, or rather a Cartouche in a King's Chamber.

The Egyptian Six (two inspectors of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and four others from the security personnel and a travel agent) have been jailed since February because they allegedly assisted German tourists (Dominique Gorlitz, Stefan Erdmann and Jan Gartig) in April 2013 to take a small sample of red paint from the Cartouche of King Khufu in the Great Pyramid. But now new official evidence has been found that the sample of  red paint from the Cartouche was taken in 2006 during the time of Zahi Hawass, which proves the innocence of the six Egyptians.
- Robert Bauval, disinfo.com

The Cartouche in question is located within the Great Pyramid in the uppermost of the so called relief chambers which sit above the well known King's Chamber.

These relief chambers were discovered in 1837 by Colonal Howard-Vyse and four out of five of these chambers contain various grafiti, including the famous Khufu Cartouche.  Since the Great Pyramid does not contain any official inscriptions or heiroglyphs, inside or outside, this cartouche is really the only writing that links the Great Pyramid to the Pharoah Khufu.  This cartouche is therefore quite central to the very history of Egypt put forward by establishent Egyptology, and one can see why they would not take kindly to tourists taking samples from it.

According to the Germans, they were under the impression that their permits were in order, and their reason for taking the samples was purely scientific. They claim, the Egyptian authorities were aware of what they planned to do and even provided a ladder to help them do so. Although the Germans admit to taking samples from the ceiling of the King's Chamber and the relief chamber above the King's Chamber, they deny taking samples from the famous Khufu Cartouche.

The whole scandal developed shortly after the Germans released a video on youtube some months after their visit to the Great Pyramid, in which the Germans showed themselves taking samples from near the cartouche. Soon after the video's release, several Egyptian officials viewed the video and were displeased to say the least. Two of the officials included Ossama Karar, and Dr. Zahi Hawass, former Minister of Antiquities of Egypt. Both Karar and Hawass publically made accusations that the Germans wanted to prove that the Great Pyramid was built by ‘Jews’. Hawass then goes one step further by accusing Egyptian author and researcher Robert Bauval of being the mastermind behind it all. Bavaul, shocked and amused at Hawass’s insane accusations, states that "he was never involved in the German's activities, and that he had never had any communication with them in the past!" One of the Germans, Stefan Erdmann released an official statement in 2014 that Robert Bauval had no involvment and that the Germans did not take samples from the Khufu cartouche as well as a host of other interesting details about the issue.

Recently surfaced photographic evidence clearly exonerates the Egytian Six and the Germans from any allegations of damage to the Khufu Cartouche. Two photos from 2003 and 2006 by Dr. Robert Schoch of Boston University show that the damage to the cartouche occurred sometime between 2003 and 2006 which coincidentally happens to be during the reign of Zahi Hawass. Also, an official photo from December 2013 by Egyptian SCA Inspectors shows the cartouche to be intact and virtually unchanged from 2006 to 2013.

Two other photos also show the location where the Germans took samples from .

For further pictorial view of the evidence, see this youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-XV61-59xg

The Germans took the samples to Germany to analyse them at a laboratory in Dresden as they wanted to try to confirm a theory that the pyramid was built more than 15,000 years ago. In 2013 the Germans posted a youtube video about their samples and were soon after charged for the illegal removal of pyramid samples. Since the charges were brought against them, the Germans have returned all the samples they took and issued a formal apology to the Egyptian people. The Germans, now back in Germany, were supposed to appear with six Egyptians in a Cairo court in September of this year, but the case was postponed to November 8th. On Sunday, after the case was postponed, one of the Germans, Dominique Görlitz,  wrote on his Facebook page that “enough is enough”, describing the case as “unacceptable”.
 - thelocal.de

Author and Researcher Robert Bauval has continued to addamently appeal for the release of the Egyptian Six and somewhat sides with the position of the Germans that they were conducting scientific research and that they certainly did not damage the Khufu Cartouche.

"Why all this fuss involving the Egyptian MOA, the Egyptian and German Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interpol, UNESCO, the Egyptian and German police and courts? Most of all, is this storm in a tea cup justified in keeping six Egyptians in jail for eight months over this storm in a tea cup? I think not. I say fine these poor men if necessary. Take a few months off their salaries if necessary. Even fire them from their jobs if necessary. But for God’s sake set them free, take them out of jail and let them return to their families, their wives and their children."

 - TAHRIR – EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITY NEWS (August 17th, 2014)

In a recent interview on Capricorn Radio, Bauval covers the issue in great detail and goes on to state, "We don't hang people for stealing a loaf of bread anymore."

-- Robert Bauval on Capricorn Radio 2014