On Wednesday, Qasr al-Nil Misdemeanor Court cleared 22 suspects accused of protesting in April against the border demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Back in May, 25 detainees, including three minors, were cleared of charges relating to the April protests. Following this, Qasr al-Nil prosecution challenged the decision and the suspects were held once again, pending investigations.
The judge then ordered the release of the minors on LE3,000 bail. The remainder of the suspects were accused of "protesting without permission, rioting, hampering traffic and breaking protest law".
They were arrested during protests in central Cairo against the surprise agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia that placed the islands of Tiran and Sanafir — long thought to lie within Egyptian territorial waters — under Saudi control.
During a previous session, a defense attorney urged the court to release the defendants so they could sit their university exams. The attorney also called for the testimonies of the defense witnesses to be heard and for footage from cameras surrounding the Journalists' Syndicate (the location of several days' protesting linked to the island controversy) to be checked.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday this week, the State Council's Administrative Court nullified the maritime border agreement of April 8, ruling that the islands Tiran and Sanafir are sovereign Egyptian land and do not fall within Saudi waters.
Following the provocative deal with Saudi Arabia, a lawsuit was filed by lawyer and former presidential hopeful, Khaled Ali and others, in the hope of having the agreement revoked on the grounds that it was illegal.
Ali filed the case with the State Council, the branch of Egypt's judiciary system that treats administrative disputes relating to the exercising of state power. Ali told Al-Masry Al-Youm at the time that a large number of lawyers and politicians had supported him in taking on the case.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
