News Analysis: Egypt's court order against transfer of Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia "enforceable"

The ruling of an Egyptian court that nullifies a recent maritime demarcation deal to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia is "enforceable" and legally binding to all Egyptian authorities, said legal experts.

On Tuesday, an Egyptian administrative court 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 provided several reasons for rejecting the deal, including former agreements, old maps, an index of names of Egyptian places made by the finance ministry in 1945 and other official documents, practices and facts dating back to 1884.

"According to the above, it is definite that both the islands of Tiran and Sanafir belong to the Egyptian territories and are located within the borders of the Egyptian state and that Egypt has continuously exercised sovereignty over the two islands," the court issued in a document for the arguments of its verdict.

Soon after the verdict, the State Lawsuits Authority representing the government appealed the court ruling against the maritime accord supported by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and announced in April during a lengthy rare visit of Saudi King Salman.

Although the verdict is not final and can be appealed by the Egyptian government, it is still "enforceable" and it makes the recent deal null and void, preventing the Egyptian parliament from discussing the issue.

"The verdict is enforceable and binding to all the country's institutions including the parliament, and the government's appeal is to be determined by the Supreme Administrative Court," Shawki al-Sayyid, law professor at Cairo University, told Xinhua.

The agreement has been approved by the Saudi Shura Council, the kingdom's formal advisory body, but has not yet been discussed or ratified by the Egyptian parliament.

"Since it has not been approved by the Egyptian parliament, it is still non-binding and not in effect," the law professor argued, stressing the parliament is obliged not to discuss the agreement due to Tuesday's enforceable court order until a final verdict is issued by the Supreme Administrative Court.

Egyptian-Saudi demarcation deal caused debate in Egypt as it has been sharply criticized by political activists including former presidential candidates who argued that Sisi's administration was giving up Egyptian territories to Saudi Arabia in return for the kingdom's financial support.

However, President Sisi said in an earlier speech that the two islands originally belonged to Saudi Arabia and it was time for Egypt to return them to their rightful owner.

The issue also sparked anti-government protests that led to the detention of dozens of young people and activists, most of whom were eventually released.

Khaled Ali, a lawyer, human rights advocate and former presidential candidate, along with some other lawyers filed a lawsuit against the deal arguing it violated previous agreements and maps that asserted Egypt's sovereignty over the two islands.

"The court ruling is historical; it voids the agreement signed by the Egyptian prime minister and confirms the Egyptian sovereignty over the two islands," Ali said following the court order, adding in case the Egyptian government appeals the verdict, it has to provide all the documents that prove Saudi Arabia's ownership of the islands.

Egyptian Judge Tahani al-Gebali, former deputy chief of the Supreme Constitutional Court, said that the anti-deal court order shows that Egypt has an independent judiciary and is governed by the law.

"In the light of this court order, the Egyptian parliament is obliged to completely refrain from discussing the agreement until a final verdict is issued," Gebali told Xinhua.

She stressed that if the Supreme Administrative Court approves the verdict, despite the government's appeal, the deal will be null and void, and if it rejects the verdict, the legal procedures for approving the agreement will be resumed.

Saudi Arabia is one of the strongest supporters of Sisi's administration and it led oil-rich Gulf states, excluding Qatar, to assist Sisi's government with billions of U.S. dollars and tons of oil supplies to maintain Egypt's stability following the military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013. Endit