1st LD: Egypt court says "no" to transfer of Red Sea islands to Saudi

Egypt's Administrative Court on Tuesday nullified a deal signed between Cairo and Riyadh in April on maritime border demarcation that placed the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir into the Saudi regional water.

The court said waiving all rights of the two islands to Saudi Arabia is null and void.

The agreement should have been submitted to the House of Representatives for debate and ratification.

"The agreement violated the country's 1906 demarcation agreement and cannot be submitted to the parliament for approval based on the constitution," the court added.

On April 12, the Egyptian Cabinet announced that the joint Egyptian-Saudi technical maritime border drawing has determined that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir fall within the Saudi waters.

The agreement of the two islands, which lie at the south entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba in the north of the Red Sea, also provoked an immediate backlash in Egypt, with hundreds of people protested on "selling the islands."

The islands had historically been Saudi and were "leased" to Egypt in 1950, the Egyptian Cabinet had said.

Based on the historical sequence and documents, the two islands, which are currently administered by Egypt, should be restored under the Saudi sovereignty, it added.

The two islands are of a strategic significance in the area, as they form the narrowest section of the strait of Tirahn, which is an important sea passage to the major ports of Aqaba in Jordan and Eilat in Israel.

The Islands are currently inhabited only by military personnel from Egypt and the multinational force and observers. Endit