House Legislative Committee to begin discussing handover of Tiran and Sanafir
The House Legislative Committee is to begin discussion today of the handover of Tiran and Sanafir. The session will be headed by House Speaker Ali Abdel Aal, Youm7 says. MPs are expected to debate whether or not the agreement should be discussed by the House as a whole, since the Administrative Court had nullified it back in January, according to Al Mal.
Things appear to be moving forward regardless: The House’s majority bloc, the Support Egypt coalition, said in a Friday statement that MPs have the right to review the agreement. Representatives also plan to ask a number of senior state officials to testify before the Legislative Committee this week, sources tell the newspaper, adding that the agreement could be moving over to the House’s general assembly as early as next week.
The House is likely to sanction the agreement, officials also tell Al Shorouk. In parallel, there appears to be an effort by the state to present MPs with evidence backing the contention that the two islands are legitimately part of Saudi Arabia and should be handed over, Youm7 reports.