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Dollard teen escapes death
Sentenced in homicide. Saudi court orders 200 lashes, year in prison
MAX HARROLD
The Gazette
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Sultan Kohail has been sentenced to 200 lashes and a year in prison.
By Saudi standards, a West Island teenager got off easy yesterday when he was sentenced to 200 lashes and one year in prison for his involvement in a schoolyard brawl last year in which a 19-year-old man was killed.
The punishment for Sultan Kohail, 17, might contain a glimmer of hope for his brother Mohamed, 22, now on death row in Saudi Arabia for his role in the same brawl. Unless that sentence, handed down on March 3, is overturned on appeal, Mohamed Kohail could be beheaded by sword within three months.
Sultan Kohail is awaiting permission to appeal his penalty.
The Kohail family immigrated to Canada in 2000, settling in Dollard des Ormeaux. In January 2007, while the family was visiting Saudi Arabia, the Kohail brothers - both Canadian citizens - were charged with the killing in a case that sharply contrasts the harsh Saudi justice system with Canada's.
More than 14 months later, the Kohails' father, mother and 9-year-old sister are still there, waiting for a conclusion that is far from clear.
In Sultan's case, Saudi youth court judges heard evidence from the prosecution and the defence, the family says. Mohamed's case was decided without hearing his side of the story, the family says.
Now, they hope the older brother's case can be appealed.
A cellphone video of part of the brawl has been posted on the Facebook website, but the recording was not viewed by court officials in Mohamed's case, a family friend said.
Reached by phone in the Saudi city of Jiddah, the weary-sounding father of the accused said his younger son's sentence was a relief considering it could have been another death sentence.
"It's okay," Ali Kohail said of the ruling. "We're taking care of Sultan now. I'm trying my best to take care of my family. We're also worried about Mohamed." Sultan was in prison for eight months after the brawl. He now is with his family, waiting for a possible appeal in his case. His brother Mohamed has been in prison since the incident. "We're all just so tired," Ali Kohail said. "But we will continue" the court battle, he said.
If all appeals fail, the death sentence would most likely be carried out swiftly, probably within three months, said Mahmoud Al-Ken, a family friend and spokesperson for the Kohails in Montreal.
Lashings and beheadings in Saudi Arabia are usually carried out in public.
Sultan's sentence is being appealed partly because many others in the brawl were not charged, Al-Ken said.
A friend of the Kohail brothers, Muhanna Ezzat, 22, a Jordanian, was sentenced to death March 3 because of his role in the brawl. His case is also being appealed.
"Of course, the family will be appealing Sultan's sentence," Al-Ken said.
"They feel the prosecution has failed to bring those actually responsible for the brawl to justice. These three men were set upon by up to 15 people, some armed with chains and other weapons. It was their attack that contributed to the death of one of the participants.
"Those who deliberately started the attack on the Kohails and their friend must be held accountable for their actions," Al-Ken said.
The family has been shunned in Saudi Arabia since the incident, Al-Ken said. Public opinion has been strongly against the accused, as they are viewed as troublesome outsiders, he said.
An autopsy indicated the man killed in the brawl, Munzer Haraki, 19, died from bleeding to the bladder complicated by a weak heart.
He died in a narrow passage outside the posh Edugates International School that was packed with boys pushing and shoving each other.
The Saudi court claimed the Kohail brothers and Ezzat killed Haraki after the victim tried to pick a fight with Sultan for allegedly insulting his female cousin, Raneen Haraki, who attended school with Sultan.
In the video, taken about half an hour before the victim died, Munzer Haraki is seen kicking Mohamed Kohail in the head, Al-Ken said.
"We just want there to be due process," he said. "Let the lawyers for both parties cross-examine both sides' witnesses" like the judges did for Sultan.
A Canadian consular official attended yesterday's hearing, Ali Kohail said.
During a visit to the Saudi kingdom late last month, federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day asked officials there to review Mohamed's death sentence and overturn it.
Bernard Nguyen, a Foreign Affairs Department spokesperson, would not comment yesterday on the latest sentencing. But the Kohails' cases "are a priority for the government," he said.
The government is pursuing all diplomatic avenues, he said from Ottawa.
Concordia University student Mahmoud Younis, 23, a close friend of Mohamed, said the sentence for Sultan proves both brothers are not guilty of killing Haraki. "There were lots of people in that fight," Younis said. Mohamed "is my best friend. I know he would not hit you until you die. It was an accident." Judges in Mohamed's case are to decide by the end of next month whether they will hear an appeal, Al-Ken said. If they refuse, the family will appeal to a higher court and even to King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, he said.
Saudi Kingdom
Glad to hear we are all in the 21st century with regards to how to treat our citizens. Anybody for a vacation in Saudi???