Malek Adly, lawyer and member of the defence team in the “Red Sea islands” case, said that his team has sent documents related to the Egyptian-Saudi maritime demarcation agreement to about 100 parliamentary members, along with documents of the court ruling they had received.
The documents included the first and initial verdict issued by the State Council in June which annulled the agreement and asserted Egyptian ownership of the islands, and the State Commissioner’s Authority report that reaffirms Egyptian sovereignty over the islands, as well as the government appeal against the verdict.
On Sunday, the parliament said it would form a specialised committee to discuss the maritime demarcation deal. The announcement came after the cabinet approved the demarcation deal on 29 December. The cabinet has yet to forward the agreement to parliament to be put up for a vote.
Khaled Ali, a lawyer and plaintiff alongside Adly, filed a lawsuit on Saturday against the cabinet’s decision. The lawsuit claims that the cabinet and parliament do not have the authority to approve the demarcation deal prior to the court’s final ruling. Ali also argues that the Constitution prohibits the ceding of Egyptian territory.
Ali and Adly previously said the cabinet’s approval of the deal is unconstitutional and violated the Administrative Court’s initial verdict, which is the highest judicial entity in the country in accordance to the Constitution.
Contrary to the Administrative Court’s initial verdict, the Urgent Matters Court refused an appeal against a previous court decision that rejected the annulment of the demarcation deal, validating the demarcation agreement.
The lawsuit in the Urgent Matters Court was filed by a citizen named Ashraf Farahat who relied on Article 11 of the State Council Law and Article 17 of the Judiciary Authority Law, both of which stipulate that the work and sovereignty of the judicial system cannot be interfered with.
On 8 April, the government concluded the demarcation deal that sought to transfer the sovereignty of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia during an official visit by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. On 21 June, the State Council ruled to stop the agreement, and asserted the islands’ Egyptian sovereignty. This is the only issued court verdict so far in the case.
