Egypt court backs sale of islands to Saudi Arabia

An Egyptian court has annulled an earlier ruling that blocked the transfer of sovereignty of two is­lands to Saudi Arabia, judicial sources say.
The Court of Urgent Matters struck down the January ruling of the High Ad­ministrative Court.
The transfer of the uninhabited Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to the Saudis has led to protests in Egypt.
The urgent matters court has issued a similar ruling before and the latest is also subject to appeal.
Tiran and Sanafir, located at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, were transferred to Saudi Arabia in a deal signed last April.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Si­si said the islands had always belonged to Saudi Arabia and that the Saudis had asked Egypt to station troops there in 1950 to protect them. - The Authority