Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) ruled Wednesday to suspend execution of all previous court verdicts regarding the Egyptian-Saudi maritime border demarcation deal, state-run MENA news agency reported. The SCC is expected to rule on jurisdiction disputes between administrative courts and urgent matters courts next month.
Following a series of hearings last week, the Egyptian parliament approved a maritime border demarcation deal that places the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, currently under Egyptian control, in Saudi Arabia's territorial waters.
The deal signed between the Egyptian and Saudi governments in April 2016 sparked a year long legal dispute between the state and opponents.
In January 2017, Egypt's High Administrative Court upheld an earlier decision by an administrative court that voided the deal and affirmed Egyptian sovereignty over Tiran and Sanafir.
In April, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled that the country's High Administrative Court had no jurisdiction over the matter.
At the end of December 2016, the Egyptian cabinet referred the Egyptian-Saudi agreement to parliament, which voted in favour of approving the deal on 14 June.
