Egypt court rejects return of islands to Saudis

An Egyptian court ruled yesterday against the government’s decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia — a landmark verdict.

The ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court in Cairo rejected an appeal by Al Sissi’s government against a lower court’s decision in June to annul the islands’ handover agreement. That deal was signed last April during a high-profile visit by the Saudi monarch, King Salman, who during the visit pledged billions of dollars to Egypt in loans and investments.

The deal sparked protests against the government. Ignoring the legal process, the government late last month sent the deal to parliament for ratification.

Yesterday’s verdict was met by an eruption of jubilation by activists and lawyers in the Nile-side Cairo courtroom, with some singing the national anthem and chanting patriotic slogans.

There were minor scuffles between police and several dozen people who attempted to hold a demonstration.

The ruling said the two islands, Tiran and Sanafir, are Egyptian — contrary to the government’s claim that they were Saudi and only given to Egypt in the 1950s to protect them from a possible attack by Israel.

“It’s enshrined in the court’s conscience that Egypt’s sovereignty over Tiran and Sanafir is beyond doubt,” the court’s presiding judge, Ahmad Al Shazli, said in announcing the unanimous verdict to a packed courtroom.

The judge said government lawyers did not provide the court with documents “or anything else” that could persuade it to believe otherwise.

The government’s only legal recourse now is to appeal to the Supreme Constitutional Court and argue that the agreement with the Saudis over the islands was a “sovereign” act that comes under the president’s prerogatives. However, there has been no indication so far on whether the government would do that.

Tiran and Sanafir are located at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba.