Wally Oppal, look toSaudi Arabia for solution to gangs

Canadian's beheading sentence upheld in Saudi
 

 
Canwest News ServiceApril 2, 2009 10:15 AM
 
 

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Montrealer Mohmed Kohail is one of the brothers arrested in Saudi Arabia and was facing death penalty.
Photograph by: Peter Clark, Canwest News Service

OTTAWA — The Jidda General Court in Saudi Arabia has upheld a beheading sentence issued last March against a 23-year-old Canadian charged in the death of a man during a schoolyard fight, according to the Arab News, an English language daily newspaper in Jidda.

Mohamed Kohail, of Montreal but living temporarily in Saudi Arabia, was sentenced to death by public decapitation after being convicted of killing an 18-year-old student in a brawl in Jidda in January 2007.

In February, the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council ordered a lower court review of the beheading sentence. However, according to the Arab News, the council, which endorses all capital and corporal punishments issued by lower courts, made a number of inquiries and sent the case back to the Jidda General Court.

The newspaper cites a court source which says the general court "upheld the death penalty verdict."

The Kohails settled in Montreal after emigrating to Canada in 2000, becoming Canadian citizens in 2005. The family's nightmare began soon after they left Canada for Saudi Arabia in late 2006 to celebrate the marriage of their daughter.

After a 19-year-old Syrian man died during a schoolyard fight in January 2007, Mohamed Kohail was charged in his death. Last March, a lower Saudi court ordered him executed with a sword.

There was no word on developments regarding his brother, Sultan, who was charged in the same incident.

Sultan was originally tried in Saudi youth court and sentenced to 200 lashes — but now faces trial in adult court, where he could also face a death sentence.

The Kohail family has urged the Canadian government to intervene because they argue the investigation and trial were unfair.

The Kohails have maintained evidence — not permitted to be entered at the separate trials of their two sons — suggests the two were trying to escape from a mob and did not cause the injuries that led to the Syrian man's death.

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