Canadian still faces public beheading in Saudi Arabia

PHOTO:  Mohamed and Sultan Kohail

A copy of a letter written to the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, by Mohamed Kohail who is sitting on death row, has been obtained by The Canadian Press. In it, Mohamed Kohail pleads with the prime minister to utilise "every way possible to get me out of this situation."

The situation referred to is that Mohamed Kohail, 23, of Montreal was sentenced March 3, 2008 to be publicly executed following a confession he claims was given under duress for a murder which occured in a Saudi Arabia school brawl in January 2007.

Mohamed wrote a letter to the Canadian Prime Minister begging for assistance. The Saudi Supreme Court advised the lower court April 9, 2009 to renounce the death penalty however the request was refused.

The date of execution is revealed to the convicted on the morning when they are to be publicly beheaded with a sword.

The crime was the murder of Munzer Al-Haraki, 19, and the Saudi government claims his brother, Sultan Kohail, insulted his relative, and Haraki began a fight.

The brothers say that the fight involved a group of boys, and felt they were acting in self defense. Sultan, 16 at the time asked his older brother to return to the school to help him after he was accused of insulting a girl. Sultan said that Mohamed came to his rescue with a friend to be greeted by a group armed with knives and clubs. Witnesses for the brothers say that Haraki had arrived at the school with carloads of friends to seek vengeance on Sultan. 

"I was tortured to sign a confession. I was misinformed that I would be allowed out of custody the moment I signed it," Mohamed said, "Mr. Harper, I have been in jail for two years now. I am imprisoned with hundreds [of] high-profile criminals in Saudi Arabia for a crime that I did not commit. I've lost my hair, two years of my life and see death coming to me closer every day."

Mohamed had received 80 days to appeal the sentence.

"There were nine hearings in total and only one time was the lawyer for Mohamed and his friend allowed in the courtroom; not even Mohamed's father, Ali (was allowed in)," said Mohamed's relative.

Harper is seeking clemency for the Kohail brothers. "It has to be worked within the confines of the Saudi law and it's important to recognize that and work with the Saudi officials to come to a resolution," said Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon. According to the letter, the Canadian government began seeking clemency March of 2008.

If the court continues to uphold the death penalty, the other option is the payment of dia, blood money, which grants forgiveness, and in this case the Al-Haraki is seeking CA$5 million. The Kohail family cannot make this payment. The government in Canada does not become involved in such financial arrangements.

Sultan Kohail is a juvenile who is out on bail awaiting to be tried in adult court on murder charges. The Convention on the Rights of the Child forbids execution of youths under the age of 18, which Saudi Arabia officials declare they comply with. However, the Convention also prohibits execution for crimes committed as juveniles no matter when the court sentences them.

The Kohail brothers were born in Palestine, moved to Canada in 2000. They became Canadian citizens in 2005, and then moved to Jiddah , Saudi Arabia in 2006.

In October, 2007, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said, "We will not actively pursue bringing back to Canada murderers who have been tried in a democratic country that supports the rule of law." Previously Canada consistently sought clemency from all foreign governments after the death penalty was abolished in Canada in 1976.

Since the beginning of 2009, 36 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia. 102 were executed in 2008 and 158 were executed in 2007.