A Canadian convicted in a Saudi Arabia youth court in connection with a schoolyard fatality has been told he will now be tried in adult court. Sultan Kohail, 17, faces a possible beheading if convicted.
In April, Kohail was sentenced to a year in prison and 200 lashes for his role in a schoolyard rumble that resulted in the death of a man.
His 23-year-old brother, Mohamed Kohail, was convicted in March in the same death and sentenced to a public beheading. Both brothers appealed the decisions.
Liberal MP Dan McTeague has been following the plight of the Montreal brothers and is calling on the Canadian government to make sure they receive due process.
The Canadian government has asked for clemency, but it is unknown what steps have actually been taken.
On Jan. 13, 2007, Syrian youth Munzer Haraki was killed in a schoolyard brawl at Jeddah's Edugates International School where Sultan Kohail was a student.
Haraki died from internal injuries.
The Kohail brothers say they were beaten until they confessed to the murder of Haraki. Their father has also told reporters Sultan suffered a broken leg while in custody. Sultan, 16 at the time, had allegedly been threatened by a group of school peers after being accused of insulting a Syrian girl.
Mohamed and another friend came to the school to defend Sultan from the threats.
Despite a cellphone video of the brawl obtained by The Globe and Mail, the exact events of the schoolyard altercation have yet to be determined. The minute-long grainy video shows approximately a dozen youths fighting as teachers unsuccessfully try to break up the brawl.
The brothers maintain they did not deliver the fatal blows to Hakari.
Mohamed and Sultan, Saudi-born Palestinians, emigrated with their parents to Montreal where they lived from 2000 to 2006 before returning to Jeddah when a family member became ill.
With files from The Canadian Press
