Egyptian court adjourns in Red Sea islands case

The Administrative Court in Cairo adjourned on Tuesday before ruling on two opposing appeals regarding the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, Safa news agency has reported. The court will reconvene on 8 November.

One of the appeals was filed by Khalid Ali, a lawyer and former presidential candidate, who wants to prove that the two islands are Egyptian. He called for the court to cancel the Egypt-Saudi Arabia treaty which recognises Saudi sovereignty over the two islands, which are located at the mouth of the strategically important Gulf of Aqaba.

The other appeal was filed by the Egyptian government in response to Ali’s appeal. The government claims that Ali’s lawsuit is invalid, insisting that the two islands are still under Egyptian control. During the hearing, the government’s lawyer said that he could see the Egyptian flag flying over the two islands during a recent visit to the Sinai Peninsula resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

In a heated hearing, the lawyers clashed over this claim. Ali and his colleagues suggested that the judge should ask the government’s lawyer to prove his claims. He also insisted that there is no legal reason to postpone the ruling to cancel the treaty; this could only happen, Ali pointed out, if there were new developments on the ground that makes the ruling impossible.

The government’s lawyer claimed that the treaty is in any case regarded as invalid because the Egyptian flag is flying over the two islands. Khalid Ali dismissed this and accused the government team of “using political blackmail.”