The high court of Egypt on Monday said that President Mohammed Mursi does not have the right to reconvene People’s Assembly after the body was dissolved last month and asserted that its decisions are final and binding, according to Al Ahram.

On Sunday Newly-elected Mohammed Mursi issued a decree calling for the reinstatement of the dissolved People’s Assembly and for new legislative polls within 60 days of the adoption of a new constitution.

Mursi’s unexpected decision basically canceled the military council’s decision in June to dissolve parliament following a Supreme Constitutional Court which ruled last year’s legislative polls unconstitutional.

The ruling prompted allegations that the court was of the military council, which has sought to limit the powers of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s political party which won nearly half of the seats of the assembly argued that the court’s decision was wrong and the SCAF had no legal right to dissolve parliament.

Saad el-Katatni, speaker of parliament and member of the Muslim Brotherhood said lawmakers would convene at 10am on Tuesday in response to Morsi’s decree, two hours earlier than their usual meeting time, Al Jazeera reported.

People’s Assembly secretary-general Sami Mahran told parliamentary correspondents on Monday that the assembly’s secretariat had “sent invitations to 508 MPs, asking them to return on 10 July and resume attending sessions and performing their parliamentary duties.” According to Al Ahram.

The military, in a statement on Monday, said that it’s order to dissolve parliament in June “represented the implementation” of the court’s decision.

The announcement made by Saudi Ambassador Ahmed Qattan on Saturday was carried by the Saudi press agency and by Egypt’s official MENA new agency which said Mursi will also perform Umrah, a short pilgrimage to Mecca,  during his state visit to the Kingdom.

According to Qattan he “presented President Mursi with an invitation to visit King Abdullah and the Egyptian president has accepted the invitation and will travel on Wednesday.

Qattan said the visit would further contribute to boosting relations between the two countries.  ”Relations between the two countries could not be confined to only economic cooperation. They are far more than that,” he added.

Qattan confirmed that the Saudi investments as well as the trade exchange increased in Egypt after the revolution. The number of Egyptian workers in the Kingdom has also increased from an estimated 1.5 million before the revolution to 1.650 million in the current time, he said, according to Arab News.

Earlier, Mursi received an invitation from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend a summit of the Non-aligned Movement in Tehran on August 29 but he is yet to accept.

Egypt and Iran had had no diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, with relations escalating in 1980 with Egypt’s recognition of Israel.

Iran has previously hailed Mursi’s victory over former ex prime minister under ousted Mubarak, Ahmed Shafiq, in Egypt’s first free presidential election as a “splendid vision of democracy” that marks the country’s “Islamic Awakening.”

UAE hopes that all efforts are concerted now towards maintaining stability, harmony and cooperation among all within the joint national action framework so as to serve higher interests in realization of aspirations of the Egyptian people for security, stability, decent life and growth.”

Egyptian expatriates in the UAE are thrilled with the victory of Mohammed Mursi, who claimed to have come first in the second round of the presidential elections, which ended on Monday morning.

“Now, we can celebrate the first knock-out for the January 25 revolution against the ousted tyrant regime,” said Abu Ahmed, an Egyptian national residing in Dubai. Abu Yusuf, a 35-year-old Egyptian also residing in Dubai, said he has always been dreaming of this moment. “Despite all the distorting and disgracing media campaigns against Dr. Mursi, all segments of the society voted for him to save the revolution.”

An Egyptian housewife residing in the UAE stated, “I could not help staying up all the night following the results province by province. This is for sure the first step ahead in the right direction for our renaissance.”

Abu Omar, an Egyptian working in the UAE, thanked God Almighty, who granted victory to one of the protesters. “Dr. Mursi has participated in the revolutions on its early days and was detained with more than 37 other Brotherhood activists.”

Tamer Mansoor, the Egyptian Ambassador to the UAE, stated that 21,298 out of 61,427 voters registered in the electoral college in the UAE voted for Dr. Mursi against 10,613 who favored Lt-Gen Shafiq.

Worldwide, Mursi, who was supported by around 107,000 in the first round, came fourth in the UAE with 7,182 votes whereas Shafiq, who was favored in the same round by around 21,000 staying in 166 countries, came sixth in the UAE with around 2,000 votes.

While the first round of the post-Mubarak presidency polls saw the participation of 23,672,236 out of 50,996,746 eligible voters in Egypt (46.42%), none of the 13 candidates was able to receive absolute majority.

Additional Sources: Albayan, Gulf News