Egypt’s supreme administrative court on Monday rejected a government appeal that sought to give Saudi Arabia sovereignty over Red Sea islands Tiran and Sanafir, Egypt state media has reported.
The court ruling is final and can no longer be appealed, which means Egypt cannot legally transfer the islands to the kingdom, despite an earlier promise made by Egyptian president Abdelfattah El-Sissi.
Last year, Egypt declared that it planned to transfer ownership of the two islands to Saudi Arabia. The decision came after 11 rounds of negotiations over a six-year period.
An administrative court later annulled the transfer, after Egyptians protested the decision. The government later appealed the court’s decision.
The two islands, located to the east of the Sinai Peninsula and the west of the Arabian Peninsula, have been administered by Egypt in the past.
El-Sissi had earlier justified his decision to the outraged public by claiming that the islands were originally Saudi territory, and that Egypt was temporarily “taking care” of them for the kingdom in a show of “brotherly relations.”
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