Invalidation of the Tiran and Sanafir Agreement!

For those who don’t understand where the world is heading with the Tiran and Sanafir issue and what today’s court ruling of invalidation leads to, splash some water on your face and wake up because things are more complicated than they seem.

Let’s briefly go back to the beginning of the story…

On April 8, 2016, without any warning, an agreement was signed between [President] Sisi and [King] Salman acknowledging that the two islands (Tiran and Sanafir) are Saudi.

On April 13, 2016, Sisi addressed the press saying, “I don’t want anyone to reopen the discussion about Tiran and Sanafir,” following significant uproar and concern against the agreement on social media.

On April 15, 2016, most of the Egyptian opposition forces, along with a large group of human rights activists, protested across Egypt’s governorates against the agreement, calling the day “The Land is the Honor.” The largest gathering was in front of the Journalists Syndicate, where [lawyer] Khaled Ali pleaded with them to disperse and not to stage a sit-in. What was hidden was greater than what would have happened to them. During the day, no less than 100 people were arrested, some were released, and others faced sentences or fines.

On Sunday, May 28, 2016, the First Circuit of the State Council, chaired by [Judge] Mohamed El-Demerdash, Deputy Head of the State Council, looked into 14 lawsuits challenging the validity of the agreement. The lawsuits named the President, the Prime Minister, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, both in their official capacity and personally. Remember who the opponent is, as we will need this information later.

The session began, and everyone laid out their case, starting with Khaled Ali, whose evidence consisted of three bags full of documents, divided into two parts: (proofs of the Egyptian nature of the islands) × (refuting claims of Saudi ownership). Let’s take them one by one.

Firstly, the Egyptian proofs:

1. A 19th-century book by historian George August Wallin containing maps of the Arabian Peninsula without Tiran and Sanafir.
2. A book translated by the Egyptian Ministry of Finance in 1945 containing a 1937 map, plate number 7, showing them as Egyptian.
3. An atlas from the Survey and Mines Authority proving the Egyptian nature of the islands from 1922, taught in primary schools until 2015.
4. A picture of a meeting record from the Security Council in 1954 indicating they are Egyptian.
5. A letter from the Ministry of War and Navy to the Foreign Minister dated December 23, 1938, asking about the nationality of the islands, to which he replied affirmatively.
6. A letter from Egyptian intelligence allowing British forces to conduct maneuvers near the islands dated June 3, 1943.
7. The Sinai Encyclopedia by [scientist] Mohamed Fouad Hussein, published by the Family Library in 2015, with maps by [geographers] Palmer and Wilson from 1968, showing them as Egyptian.
8. The book “Modern History of Sinai” by Naoum Shuqair, 1917, with maps prepared in 1914.
9. An atlas from Cambridge University in 1940, with a map of Egypt on page 71 and also on page 32.
10. A doctoral thesis supervised by [Dr.] Mofid Shehab in 1979, presented by Dr. Fikry Ahmed, confirming the Egyptian nature of the islands despite mentioning a dispute over them but acknowledging their Egyptian status in the thesis.

Now, let’s address the claims that the islands are Saudi. Secondly, the Saudi claims:

That Egypt took control of the islands during King Farouk’s reign, which was refuted by a record at the State Council through the opinion administration of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice, based on Fatwa No. 20 dated January 13, 1950, raising the Egyptian flag after Israel breached the truce.

Lawyer Khaled Ali asked the government representative for King Abdulaziz’s letter to King Farouk, which was said to request protection of the islands due to fear of Israel. The state representative replied that no such letter exists.

The claim that the case is a matter of sovereignty and not within the court’s jurisdiction was refuted by legal and constitutional texts.

Khaled Ali requested confirmation of the continued raising of the Egyptian flag on the islands until the end of the case.

After that, the following individuals entered the fray… Lawyer Ali Ayoub presented a historical letter from the Saudi ambassador to King Farouk thanking him for imposing Egyptian sovereignty over the islands, stating, “The presence of Egyptian forces on the islands is a reassurance for us and all neighboring peoples.” Ambassador Masoum Marzouk said, “We fought for the soil of this nation… and according to international law, land is acquired either by occupation or extended possession… and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was established in 1936… 

If Israel had doubted their Egyptian nature, it would not have returned them to Egyptian territory… and he studied the theory of acts of sovereignty in New York… which is a theory from international jurisprudence that sovereignty belongs entirely to the people… and not to the presidents as the presidency and government claim.” Lawyer Negad El-Borai stated, “Any international dispute over land requires recourse to international arbitration… and the boundary demarcation agreement with Saudi Arabia does not relate to a matter of sovereignty.” Lawyer Mohamed Abdel Aal presented evidence that the Prime Minister presented his program to the House of Representatives… then signed the agreement before being granted confidence by the House of Representatives. Lawyer Essam El-Islambouli presented evidence that the agreement was not officially presented to the parliament at all… and submitted an official document for a decision from the Egyptian Interior Ministry to establish a police station on Tiran Island.

The representative of the State Lawsuits Authority and the government delegate took the floor… and bluntly asked the court to reject the lawsuit both formally and substantively… listing the achievements, virtues, and benefits of the agreement and the economic benefits and resource exchange between the two countries… accusing the lawyers of using politically charged language (but did not call them Brotherhood)… and referred to Article 15 of international law that the House of Representatives is competent!

The court decided to postpone the case and insisted that the government representative bring the documents to the next session… but he did not bring them, not the next time, nor the time after, nor the time after that.

For three sessions, the case was postponed… and in the fourth, lawyer Khaled Ali accused the State Lawsuits Authority of “incompetence” in bringing the original documents for the displayed photocopies… and legally, in case of refusal, the photocopy is treated as the original.

In a conversation with Al-Ahram with [Judge] Mohamed Munib… he said that the government is afraid to hand over the documents because it fully knows the invalidity of the agreement… and recognizes the catastrophic mistake it made… and he said verbatim: “I personally feel sorry for the State Lawsuits Authority, as it is in an enviable position.”

In the end, there was no choice for the State Lawsuits Authority but to rule on the necessity of consulting experts in the following fields (historical, geographical, cartography, topography, and other related sciences)… and the government’s excuses were fined 200 Egyptian pounds for not presenting the documents… and delaying the resolution of the lawsuit.

Finally,

Today, the Administrative Court of the State Council, chaired by [Judge] Yahya Dakroury, ruled (invalidating the border demarcation concerning the islands of Tiran and Sanafir… and the judgment of the Egyptian nature of the islands… and the judiciary continuing Egyptian sovereignty over them).

The crisis… What is the big problem now? The big problem is that this ruling is subject to appeal… but who will appeal??? The parties named in the lawsuit (the President + the Prime Minister + the Speaker of the House of Representatives)… meaning (those who rule Egypt) will appeal to oppose a ruling of (an Egyptian court) to prove (Saudi ownership of the land)… and try (the President, the Prime Minister, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives) to establish it as Saudi sovereignty and ownership… without the slightest intervention from Saudi Arabia, which will be “the prince of the subject… and a royal witness to the events”!

And this would be the first incident in human and human history to happen… (That a ruler of a country struggles and stands against his country’s judiciary to give its land to another country!!!)