The fate of two Canadian brothers, who may face beheading in Saudi Arabia after a schoolyard brawl left one student dead, has sparked a heated debate within the Arab media.
The Globe and Mail reported the fate of the two brothers has prompted more than 100 comments on the website for Dubai-based TV outlet Al-Arabiya.
Some of the comments were in favour of Canada's position to defend its former citizens, while others contended Canadian officials should respect Saudi law.
"It's the Saudis' right to execute him," The Globe reported one reader wrote in Arabic.
"Too bad, Canada. Hard luck."
"They must be executed," said another.
Other comments on the site praised Canada's support of the boys, who have been Canadian citizens since 2005.
Mohamed Kohail, 22, and his 16-year-old brother Sultan have been held in a Jeddah prison for four months in connection with the death of Syrian youth Munzer Haraki.
Mohamed and Sultan, Saudi-born Palestinians, lived with their family in Montreal from 2000 to 2006 before returning to Jeddah when a family member became ill.
As the Kohails are Palestinian, they never received Saudi citizenship even though all of the children were born in the country.
Liberal consular services critic Dan McTeague requested earlier this week that Foreign Affairs step in to ensure the brothers are being treated fairly while incarcerated.
The brothers say they were beaten until they confessed to the murder of Haraki and it is reported that Sultan has suffered a broken leg while in custody.
"Canadian officials have had four consular visits with the two youth and they are monitoring the situation to make sure that they are not mistreated, that's what external affairs has been saying to us this morning," CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said on Friday.
McTeague says if Canadian diplomats have access to the brothers, they should demand medical examinations for them.
The brawl broke out on Jan. 13 at Edugates International School where Sultan was a student.
The boy 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, which included that he was going to be kidnapped.
Despite a cellphone video of the brawl obtained by The Globe, 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.
"It looks like it's the real thing but we don't know who is involved in the altercations," Fife said.
The boys maintain they did not deliver the fatal blows to Hakari.
