Egyptian court blocks handover of islands to Saudi Arabia

CAIRO, Jan. 17 (UPI) — An Egyptian court ruled Sunday the country’s government does not have the power to return two islands to Saudi Arabia, potentially scuttling a long-discussed deal and making worse the relationship between the two countries.

Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court issued the decision, halting a plan to return the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, which Egypt took control of in the 1950s amid concern between the two countries that Israel would seize them.

The plan caused protests throughout Egypt, mostly based on the hit to national pride that giving up the islands may carry — despite the government repeatedly claiming the islands do not belong to Egypt and the courts have no right to override the decision.

The high court decision upholds a decision in June by an administrative court that said the same thing, though the Egyptian government is debating whether or not the courts have a voice in such decisions.

“The administrative courts have no business reviewing such decisions in the first place,” said Rafik Sherif, the deputy head of the State Lawsuits Authority, which represents the government in court cases. “These are sovereign acts, and the judiciary has no right to question them.”

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who came to power in 2013 after a military coup taking out the democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, has depended on the goodwill of Saudi Arabia to lend Egypt money keeping its economy afloat. When Sisi announced in April the islands would be handed over to Saudi Arabia, the streets filled with protesters.

While the Egyptian government claims the unpopulated islands always belonged to Saudi Arabia and were only placed in their care to prevent Israel from claiming them, Judge Ahmed el-Shazly said in the court’s decision that government lawyers had not provided documents or other proof that Egypt was simply keeping an eye on the islands.

In addition to Sisi’s government bringing a case to the country’s Supreme Constitutional Court challenging whether the courts have the right to rule on similar government decisions, the Egyptian parliament also is debating whether or not to transfer the islands to Saudi Arabia.