News   /   Egypt

Egypt's top court waives all legal challenges to islands' transfer to Saudi Arabia

The photo, taken on January 14, 2014 through the window of an airplane, shows the Red Sea's Tiran (foreground) and the Sanafir (background) islands in the Strait of Tiran between Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia. (Via AFP)

Egypt’s top court has dismissed all outstanding legal challenges to a controversial deal according to which Cairo cedes sovereignty of two of its Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, Egypt's top benefactor, a day before a visit by the Arab kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the African country.  

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced in April 2016 that the two islands of Tiran and Sanafir fell within the territorial waters of Saudi Arabia as stipulated in a border accord signed between Cairo and Riyadh earlier that month, triggering legal action to block the deal and unprecedented mass demonstrations.

Protesters have accused the Egyptian president of surrendering Egyptian territory in return for Saudi money amid reports that Cairo was receiving 20 billion dollars in aid from Riyadh to relinquish sovereignty of the uninhabited islands. 

The Supreme Court, however, on Saturday ruled that no other court had jurisdiction over the issue, blocking two opposing verdicts, one by the Supreme Administrative Court, which was against transferring of the islands to Saudis, the other by the Court of Urgent Matters, which looked to annul that decision.

“The signature of the representative of the Egyptian state on the maritime borders agreement between the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly an act of sovereignty,” the Supreme Court said in a statement, adding that approving the accord was down to Egypt’s legislative body.

Prince Mohamed signed the deal on behalf of Saudi Arabia before becoming crown prince. The young Saudi prince is due to arrive in Egypt for a three-day visit on Sunday.

Egypt’s parliament backed the deal in June last year, and Sisi ratified it one week later.

Riyadh and Cairo argue that the islands belong to Saudi Arabia and that the Arab kingdom asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them. However, lawyers and opponents say Egypt’s sovereignty over the islands dates back to a 1906 treaty, before Saudi Arabia was founded.

Tiran and Sanafir lie about four kilometers apart in the Red Sea. They are situated in the narrow entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba leading to Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territories.


Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Press TV News Roku