Court sinks Egyptian-Saudi island deal
A court ruling supposedly has ended Egypt’s attempt to hand over two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, but the government hasn’t necessarily given up.
Cheers filled Cairo’s streets Jan. 16 as Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court rejected a government plan to transfer the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.
The judicial decision came Jan. 16 after a fierce fight both on the streets and in the country’s courtrooms, and people are now calling for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his government to be tried for treason.
“What the government did is a criminal offense” under the penal code, Malek Adly, one of the lawyers who spearheaded the campaign against the deal, told Al-Monitor. “But it is not an easy matter politically to prosecute Sisi and the government while they are in power.”
Nevertheless, lawyer and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali filed a complaint against Sisi, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, accusing them of illegally seeking to transfer the islands’ ownership.
