MONTREAL - A Canadian teen charged in Saudi Arabia after a man died in a schoolyard rumble has been sentenced to one year in prison and 200 lashes, a family friend said Saturday.
Sultan Kohail, 17, was read his sentence before a Saudi youth court, Mahmoud Al-Ken said in an interview.
"Definitely it's a lot better than the death sentence that they were afraid of having,'' Al-Ken said.
Prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty.
Kohail's brother, Mohamed, has already been convicted of the same charges and was sentenced last month to death by public beheading.
The brothers maintain their innocence and have both launched appeals.
Al-Ken said Sultan's lighter sentence was handed down by a different judge who permitted "vigorous'' cross-examination of the prosecution's witnesses, a key component he said Mohamed did not have in his case.
"We hope that this due process will be applied also in the appeal of Mohamed's (sentence),'' he said.
The Kohail family has argued Mohamed didn't get a fair trial. It says the 10 hearings in his case totalled 90 minutes and no witnesses were heard.
Sultan was released on bail in July 2007 and is free until his appeal is heard in about six weeks, Al-Ken said. He could not provide details on the lashes.
Mohamed, meanwhile, sits in a Jidda prison.
Sultan, Mohamed and a friend were detained in January 2007 after a schoolyard brawl left one man dead.
The Kohail brothers and Muhanna Masoud were involved in a fight that broke out after Sultan was accused of insulting a girl.
According to the account of the Kohail brothers, they scrapped with about 15 of the girl's male relatives and friends. Some were allegedly armed with clubs and knives.
Munzer Haraki, 19, a cousin of the girl who was supposedly insulted, died of internal injuries in the melee.
The Kohail family believes the prosecution failed to bring those responsible for the rumble to justice, Al-Ken said.
"Those who deliberately started the attack on the Kohails and their friend must be held accountable for their actions,'' he said.
Masoud, a Jordanian national, was also sentenced to death.
The Canadian government has said it will seek clemency for Mohamed Kohail after a directive from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Ron Davidson, Canada's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, met with the Kohail family last week. He was also to meet with officials of the Saudi justice ministry to press for a fair process.
The brothers, both of Palestinian origin, have been Canadian citizens since 2005.
Ali Kohail, the brothers' father, has said the family had only temporarily relocated from a Montreal suburb to Saudi Arabia to attend a relative's wedding.
