Egypt lawyer submits appeal against court ruling backing islands transfer to Saudi Arabia
An Egyptian human rights lawyer on Monday said he had launched an appeal against a court ruling that backed the government’s proposed transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
After a meeting with King Salman last year, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government announced a maritime demarcation accord with Saudi Arabia, ceding control of the islands to the Gulf kingdom after it reportedly issued billions of dollars in aid to Egypt.
The proposal angered many Egyptians, with the issue taken to the courts. The court proceedings angered Riyadh, raising political tension between the two major Arab states and traditional allies.
The islands of Tiran and Sanafir, both uninhabited, are situated in the narrow entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba leading to Jordan and Israel.
After an initial ruling against the transfer last June, the government appealed and the case was referred to the Higher Administrative Court which also ruled against the proposed transfer, saying the islands’ Egyptian sovereignty was incontestable.
On Sunday, just four days after Sisi and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman held a public meeting at an Arab summit in Jordan, another Egyptian court decreed that the administrative court’s ruling was void – potentially reviving the deal.
Human rights lawyer Khaled Ali said he submitted an appeal, arguing that the administrative court had the final say and the matter was beyond the jurisdiction of the Court of Urgent Matters which issued the latest ruling.
Sunday’s verdict “reflects the continued attempts of the regime to circumvent the final ruling of the Higher Administrative Court”, Ali said in a statement.
