Egyptian children celebrate with a national flag defaced with the words "Tiran" and "Sanafir" after the Supreme Administrative Court upheld on January 16, 2017 a ruling voiding a government agreement to hand over the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia in a deal that had sparked protests in Egypt. (AFP photo)
CAIRO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A top Egyptian court on Monday issued a final verdict that nullified the transfer of two Red Sea islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia, state TV reported.
In the verdict, Egypt's High Administrative Court rejected government's appeal against a previous court ruling voiding a deal that hands over two Red Sea islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia.
The verdict is final and cannot be appealed.
In April, Egypt's government signed an agreement to place both islands under Saudi Arabian sovereignty, saying that they had always belonged to the oil-rich Arab country and that Egypt had been merely administering them on behalf of the kingdom since the 1950s.
The decision of transfer the two islands prompted outcry from many Egyptians and provoked protests.
Meanwhile, the issue stirred tensions between Cairo and its strong oil-rich ally that has been one of the main financial backers of Egypt since the ouster of the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Saudi recently halted fuel shipments to Egypt.
In June, an Egyptian administrative court ruled that an Egyptian-Saudi border re-demarcation agreement was void, adding that the two islands should remain under Egyptian sovereignty.
Egypt's State Lawsuits Authority, the body representing the government in legal cases, later filed and won a lawsuit in front of a court for urgent matters to stop the administrative court's verdict.
By the end of December 2016, Egypt's cabinet referred the Egyptian-Saudi agreement to parliament.
The cabinet asserted its approval of the deal and its referral to parliament was constitutional, though lawyers challenging the agreement in court saying the move was unconstitutional, as the court had not yet given a final verdict on the issue.
