CAIRO, March 3, 2018 - Egypt's top court on Saturday dismissed all outstanding legal challenges to a deal transferring two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. The plan to cede the islands to Riyadh was announced in 2016 and became mired in legal action. The Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that no other court had jurisdiction over the matter, blocking two opposing rulings - one by the Supreme Administrative Court, which was against ceding control of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, the other by the Court of Urgent Matters, which looked to void that decision. "The signature of the representative of the Egyptian state on the maritime borders agreement between the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly an act of sovereignty," the Supreme Court said in a statement, adding that approving the deal was down to Egypt's legislative body. Egypt's parliament backed the deal in June, and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ratified it one month later. Saudi and Egyptian officials say the islands belong to the kingdom and were only under Egyptian control because Riyadh had asked Cairo in 1950 to protect them.
