- Egypt’s constitutional court on March 3, upheld a deal to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. The decision by the Egypt’s top Court has nullifies the contradictory rulings two other lower courts had given earlier.
- The two islands of Tiran and Sanafir are situated between the two countries. Although these are largely unoccupied islands yet they lie in a strategically important and politically sensitive area.
- The agreement was first announced during the visit of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Cairo in April 2016. But after the deal signed, several protests were eupted in Egypt, and the government was criticized for its decision of ceding the islands in return for Saudi largesse.
- The Egypt government says the Red islands originally belong to Saudi Arabia but were leased to Egypt in the 1950s.
