By AP
ST. LOUIS: A judge says a 3,200-year-old Egyptian mummy mask at the center of an international dispute will remain in a US museum.
The US government sought to return the funeral mask of Lady Ka-Nefer-Nefer to Egypt, claiming it had been stolen before the St. Louis Art Museum bought it from a New York art dealer in 1998.
But a US district judge ruled on March 31 that the mask can stay, saying the government failed to prove that the mask was stolen.
Museum officials say the mask’s ownership history was researched before the purchase and there is no indication it was stolen.
US Attorney Richard Callahan says the government hasn’t decided whether to appeal.
