A Giza Court of Misdemeanours postponed the trial of prominent lawyer Khaled Ali on Monday to 24 July, according to local media.
Lawyer Samir Sabry filed the lawsuit against Ali, accusing him of making an offensive gesture amid security forces securing the State Council headquarters on the verdict day of the case known as the “Red Sea islands.”
On 24 May, the General Prosecution released Ali with a bail of EGP 1,000 pending trial after a five-hour investigation over the lawsuit.
A photograph of Ali making an inappropriate gesture circulated on social media, which one local news outlet reported was just a “coincidence” that the photographer captured Ali cheering with the crowd after the court announced that the two islands belonged to Egypt.
Ali was one of the lawyers defending the Red Sea islands case in opposition to the government stance which defended the agreement of transferring the sovereignty of the islands to Saudi Arabia.
In 2016, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed the Egyptian-Saudi maritime demarcation deal, which stipulated that the two islands were Saudi rather than Egyptian.
Disputes over the islands’ sovereignty are still ongoing in Egyptian courts.
The Constitutional Court issued a temporary order in June to suspend all previous court orders issued by both the State Council and the Court of Urgent Matters regarding the Red Sea islands agreement, which were conflicting.
Ali ran in the 2012 presidential election and is a potential candidate for 2018.
He is also widely known for advocating labour rights and fighting corruption.
