Travel Reference
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of my car and set it on fire. Then they beat me - first with sticks, then with a metal pole.
Then . . . they took a sword and tried to cut off my head.' He drew a half-finger across a
perfect line that ran across his face, from ear to ear, just below his eyes. 'After that, I was
on the ground - but that didn't stop them.' Slowly, Yasser began to undress, revealing the
full horror of his torture. Across his back were the wounds where he'd been stabbed and
whipped with wire and chains. On his legs were the slashes the Muslim boys had made
with their sword, and in his groin and shoulders were yet more stab wounds. They'd even
torn the skin off his buttocks, trampled his kneecaps, cracked his skull in three places with
the pommel of the sword. 'After they were done, they rolled me up in a sack and dumped
me in a skip. They thought I was dead. They were putting me out with the rubbish, say-
ing we Christians are nothing but filth.' Yasser paused, choking up. 'But I was rescued. A
man came and saw the sack was wriggling. It was me inside, covered in blood, my brains
hanging out in the bin. That man took me to hospital. It was two weeks before I woke.'
Yasser was visibly shaking now, but I didn't have a thing to say.
'I haven't told anyone the full story,' he admitted. 'Not even my wife and children know
what really happened. I haven't been able to work since. I don't like leaving the house any
more.'
The only words I had were pathetic, useless things: 'I'm sorry . . .' I said.
'It is God's will,' Yasser breathed. 'I must forgive them. They know not what they do.'
At this, he wiped away another tear, leaving me uncertain whether he believed it or not. 'I
hope God will forgive them, too,' he said as Ibrahim and I readied to leave him in the dark
recess of his bedsit. 'But that,' he said, finally, 'is none of my business.'
Despite being one of the most infuriating, bureaucratic and frustrating countries to walk
across that I had ever encountered, I couldn't help but feel in awe of the welcome I re-
ceived at the Pyramids of Giza. The night before I was due to leave the city I'd been
summoned by the Minister of Antiquities, Mr Mamdouh Eldamaty, who said he'd got a
little something for me.
I won't even attempt to describe the last remaining ancient wonder of the world, except
to say that the pyramids here are the most inspiring human structures on earth. You can
imagine my surprise then when I turned up at dusk, just as the enormous yellow tombs
were being lit up for the evening sound and light show. 'Straighten your collar,' said
Ibrahim with a beaming grin. That afternoon he'd insisted on taking me shopping to buy
a jacket and some smart shoes, but it was all part of the surprise. I couldn't have expected
what I found.
Beyond the new wall that divides the rickety city of Giza from the boundaries of the
desert, a walkway led past the ticket office to an open space right in front of the Sphinx
