Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court voids previous court orders on Red Sea islands deal

El-Sayed Gamal El-Din , Saturday 3 Mar 2018

Sanafir
A picture 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 Straits of Tiran between Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia (AFP)

Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court voided on Saturday all previous court orders regarding the maritime border demarcation deal between Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed in April 2016.

In January 2017, Egypt’s High Administrative Court upheld an earlier decision by an administrative court that voided the deal and affirmed Egyptian sovereignty over Tiran and Sanafir.

In April, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled that the country's High Administrative Court had no jurisdiction over the matter.

The agreement hands two Red Sea islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia. Today's court order means the deal will be implemented.

The agreement was ratified by Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on 24 June 2017 after parliament approved the deal earlier that month.

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