MONTREAL - A Saudi court has threatened the lawyer of a Canadian man who is facing a public beheading after the advocate submitted a bid to appeal the death sentence.
Mohamed Kohail's lawyer was ejected from the court in Jidda on Monday after tabling a 27-page document before the same judges who rendered the execution order on March 3.
"The judge kicked the advocate out, they obtained a copy of his permit and they're threatening him, to revoke his licence,'' said Mahmoud Al-Ken, a friend of the Kohail family.
"The court was not public. It lacks transparency.''
Mohamed Kohail, 23, and his brother Sultan, 17, were detained in January 2007 after a schoolyard brawl in which one of the men involved died of internal injuries. A third man, a Saudi national, was also charged.
Sultan Kohail was freed on bail the following July but Mohamed was convicted of murder and sentenced to death on March 3 of this year.
Sultan returns to court on Saturday where he may face the same sentence as his brother.
Late Monday, Foreign Affairs spokesman Rodney Moore told the Canadian Press the Canadian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia will be meeting with Kohail, his family, and legal counsel Tuesday to discuss the case and developments on the legal front, including the appeal.
"Our ambassador will also be meeting with officials from the Saudi Ministry of Justice to seek assurances that due process will be observed in the appeal process,'' Moore said in an e-mail.
The Canadian government has said it will seek clemency for Kohail after a directive from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day met with Saudi officials during a visit to Saudi Arabia last week. He asked that the death sentence be overturned and the case reviewed.
The family has argued Mohamed did not get a fair trial. The entire case consisted of 10 court hearings totalling about 90 minutes. The family has said none of its witnesses were heard.
"The mother is frightened,'' Al-Ken said. "The father is extremely overwhelmed with all that is going on.''
Both brothers are of Palestinian origin but have been Canadian citizens since 2005. They lived in Montreal before returning to Saudi Arabia for a family wedding in 2006.
Al-Ken says the case is in a critical phase and the federal government "has to do more.''
"Mr. Day did not speak to the right people,'' he said, noting that Day met with the Saudi deputy interior minister and the head of the country's intelligence service.
"We're seeing the results now,'' Al-Ken said. "The advocate was kicked out of the room, no one was willing to listen to him.''
Al-Ken said the Saudis were likely reacting to Canada's recent statement it will not seek clemency in countries it deems democratic, something Al-Ken said the Saudis probably interpreted an "an indirect insult.''
"It can be translated that the Saudis snubbed him because of this message and therefore the Canadian government has to act faster and more aggressively on this case.''
Dan McTeague, the Liberal Opposition critic for consular services, said he is doing what he can to help resolve the situation.
"All of us have an interest here to work very diligently toward the sparing of Mohamed Kohail's life,'' he said, noting it is "regrettable'' Kohail's lawyer could not argue in court.
McTeague said some avenues that could be pursued include meeting with Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, appealing to Saudi Arabia's king or imploring him to have the Supreme Council review the case.
"It is a very delicate situation,'' he said. "It is one that is going to require a lot of effort on everyone's behalf to ensure that we make the case both politically and hopefully legally that the man does not deserve the sentence that has been pronounced against him.''
