Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled on Sunday that the country’s High Administrative Court, which ruled in January that the two Islands of Tiran and Sanafir belong to Egypt, had no jurisdiction over the matter.
The April 2016 decision by the Egyptian government to transfer the two strategic islands at the southern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba to Saudi Arabia sparked widespread public outcry and legal challenges.
However, Lawyer Malek Adly, one of the laweyers who challenged the Egypt-Saudi agreement in front of the High Administrative Court, told Ahram Online that the Court for Urgent Matters, as a lower court, does not have jurisdiction to issue verdicts in this matter and cannot challenge verdicts made by the Higher Administrative Court, as the latter has a higher judicial authority.
In March, Egypt’s Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal said parliament will discuss and vote on the deal, despite the final annulment of the deal by the High Adminstratice Court.
Abdel-Aal said that parliament will discuss the deal “in accordance with its constitutional powers… once some procedures and paperwork are completed in the next few days.”
Parliament has not voted on the deal yet.