CAIRO, June 14 (Xinhua) -- After the Egyptian parliament approved on Wednesday the controversial deal of transferring two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, the agreement will enter into force directly after the Egyptian President's approval, an Egyptian judicial expert said.
"However, there are appeals being discussed at the Supreme Constitutional Court about irregularities in the signing of the agreement...If the Constitutional Court decides there were errors in the agreement, the deal becomes null with no legal basis," Shaqi al-Sayed, a Cairo-based judicial expert told Xinhua.
If the Constitutional Court approves the validity of the agreement, the expert said, the transfer of the two islands to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the lifting of the Saudi flag on them will be completed after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi approves the agreement.
On Wednesday, the Egyptian parliament approved in a final vote the controversial deal under which Egypt is to transfer the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.
The Egyptian parliament is divided over a maritime demarcation deal signed last year, according to which Egypt will hand over the two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
In April last year, Egypt's government signed an agreement to place both islands under Saudi Arabian sovereignty, saying that they had always belonged to the oil-rich Arab country and that Egypt had been merely administering them on behalf of Saudi Arabia since the 1950s.
After signing the agreement, the cabinet announced that the deal is the culmination of a six-year process of studies and 11 rounds of negotiations between the Egyptian and the Saudi sides.
The cabinet added that the maritime border agreement with the Saudi Arabia allows Egypt to use shared Red Sea waters for excavation of natural resources which would benefit the Egyptian economy.
Saudi Arabia-led Gulf support to Sisi's government with billions of U.S. dollars and tons of oil supplies followed the Sisi-led removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests.
Debates mixed with anger hit Egyptians after announcing the agreement: Sisi and his administration see that the two islands originally belonged to Saudi Arabia and it is time to return them to their rightful owners, while opposers of the deal believe that the islands are Egyptian and giving them up will be sacrificing national soil for temporary interests.
Egyptian courts have previously nullified the agreement. However, the government sent the deal to the parliament for approval.
"There is a state of public dissatisfaction, which is stronger than any law and any authority. This dissatisfaction is the result of the government's failure to manage the issue from the beginning until now," al-Sayed said.
He pointed out that it is not over yet, adding that there will be several legal and political rounds and probably new appeals at the Supreme Constitutional Court.
Tiran, an area of about 80 square km, is located at the entrance of the Straits of Tiran, which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aqaba. It is Israeli's only access from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Red Sea. Sanafir is about 33 square km located eastern Tiran Straits.
In 1950, Egypt and Saudi agreed to put the two islands under Egypt administration as the two countries' governments had sought to prompt the Arab military stand in the face of Israel and to foster the Egyptian military defense lines in Sinai and the entrance of Aqaba Gulf, the Egyptian cabinet once said.
Also in 1950, the U.S. ambassador has sent a telegraph to Egypt saying the two islands are Saudis, and that Egypt has controlled it to protect its security border from the Israeli aggression in coordination with Saudi, the cabinet illustrated.
