Rights lawyer and activist Mahienour al-Massry, along with Bread and Freedom Party member Moatasem Medhat, were detained Saturday during a court hearing in the Alexandria on charges of participating in unauthorized protests against the Tiran and Sanafir maritime border agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, according to local reports. The two Alexandrian activists will be held in detention pending a final verdict by the court, which is scheduled to be issued on December 30. Three other defendants, identified as Bread and Freedom Party members Asmaa Naeem and Zeyad Aboul Fadl, in addition to Walid al-Emary, member of the Dostour Party, did not show up for the court date and were thus not detained. The case dates back to June when protests were organized following the ratification of the maritime border agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia which saw the sovereignty of the Tiran and Sanafir islands transferred to Saudi Arabia. The two islands, located in the Red Sea to the east of the Sinai Peninsula and the west of the Arabian Peninsula, have previously been administered by Egypt but Saudi Arabia has also laid claim to them. In 1949, Saudi…
