CAIRO, Sept. 29 (Aswat Masriya) - The Cairo Court of Urgent Affairs decided on Thursday to suspend the administrative court's ruling invalidating the Tiran and Sanafir border agreement, lawyer Khaled Ali said.

The rights lawyer also said that the defense team will take all legal measures to cancel the ruling of the Urgent Affairs Court.

Egypt’s Administrative Court had annulled last June the Red Sea islands agreement signed in April during a visit by Saudi King Salman bin Abdel Aziz to Cairo. The agreement had stipulated that Egypt will transfer control over the two strategic Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.

The court ruled that the islands would remain under Egyptian sovereignty.

The agreement had stirred controversy, with critics accusing President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of "selling Egypt" to Saudi Arabia in return for aid. Dozens of protesters who protested the transfer were arrested in April. 

The Egyptian government however maintains that both islands belong to Saudi Arabia and challenged the annulment of the agreement before the Supreme Administrative Court and  the Supreme Constitutional Court.