CAIRO, Sept 29 (Aswat Masriya) - A criminal court ordered the release of journalist Mahmoud al-Saqqa and two others on bail on Thursday around five months after their arrest for inciting protests.

Defence lawyer Mokhtar Mounir said the three were released on a bail of EGP 5,000.

However, the prosecution appealed the release order and the decision regarding their release is set to be made on Saturday. 

Ahmed Salem and Sayed Gaber were arrested in the prelude to planned protests on April 25 which were staged against an Egyptian-Saudi agreement transferring control over two strategic Red Sea islands, Tiran and Sanafir, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.

Al-Saqqa was arrested on May 1 along with another journalist, Amr Badr, after security forces raided the Journalists' Syndicate’s headquarters. 

They were accused of inciting protests, attempting to overthrow the regime and broadcasting false news with the aim of disturbing public peace.

Lawyer Sayed al-Banna was also arrested on April 21 amid a police campaign of mass arrests of activists opposed to the islands’ transfer. He was released yesterday on bail of EGP 5,000, according to Mounir.

Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets in rare protests on April 15 and April 25, calling for the cancellation of the islands' transfer agreement and affirming they belong to Egypt.

Lawyers Khaled Ali and Malek Adly filed a lawsuit with the administrative court to annul the agreement.

In June, the administrative court annulled the agreement and affirmed that the two islands fall within Egypt's borders.

The Egyptian government 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.

The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled on Thursday to suspend the earlier administrative court decision canceling the maritime border demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.