Alwaght-Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ratified a treaty that hands over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in a deal that had sparked widespread opposition including violent protests.
"President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has ratified the maritime demarcation agreement between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," the cabinet said in a statement on Saturday.
The transfer of the uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia has been the subject of a confusing legal battle, with one court annulling the treaty and another upholding it.
On Wednesday, Egypt's top constitutional court ruled to halt all verdicts on the transfer of the uninhabited Tiran and Sanafir islands until it makes a decision on the constitutionality of the deal.
That ruling came a day after Egypt's high administrative court said that previous judicial decisions in favour of transferring the two islands were invalid, according to a judicial official and a lawyer
It also fueled widespread public criticism and street protests among Egyptians angered over national sovereignty.
Protesters accused el-Sisi of trading the islands of Tiran and Sanafir for Saudi largesse. Saudi Arabia has helped Sisi with aid since he toppled President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.
But Egyptians are increasing critical over the state of the country's economic revival after years of political upheaval and a devaluation of the Egyptian pound, tax increases and subsidy cuts introduced by el-Sisi's government.
Lying at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, the islands can be used to control access to the port of Eilat in Palestinian territories occupied by the Israeli regime.
They Islands were captured by the Israeli regime in the 1967 West Asia war before being returned to Egypt under the 1979 Camp David Accords.
Generations of Egyptians had grown up learning in school that the two islands belonged to their country and that soldiers had died defending them during wars with Israel.
Egyptians have called el-Sisi a traitor over his government's controversial decision to cede sovereignty of the two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
