The Commissioners Authority of the Constitutional Court postponed on Sunday an appeal by the government against an Administrative Court declaration that ruled on the annulment of the Egyptian-Saudi maritime demarcation agreement to 12 March.

The court stated that this will be the last postponement before issuing its legal report on the issue. The postponement came after the request of Khaled Ali, the lawyer of the opponents to the agreement.

Ali, who was the initial lawyer to refer the agreement to court, attended the session of the aforementioned appeal for the first time. He requested to view the appeal documents and to give a statement in the next session.

This appeal was filed by the government in August to stop the implementation of the Administrative Court’s ruling on 21 June, which annulled the agreement and was later confirmed in a court session on 16 January as the final verdict.

Opposing lawyers urged the court to reject the appeal as the Administrative Court declared its final verdict, confirming Egyptian sovereignty over the islands, and providing no room for appeals against the ruling in accordance with Constitutional Article 151 that bans ceding any part of state territories.

The Constitutional Court is expected in this appeal to decide which entity is authorised to look into such agreements, whether the executive or the judiciary. This is the government’s third appeal against the Administrative Court ruling.

On 8 April, the government concluded the demarcation deal that sought to transfer the sovereignty of Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia during an official visit by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

There was no previous mention in the media regarding any discussions between both countries prior to the visit. Saudi Arabia so far has not reacted to the court ruling.