A Canadian teenager appeared in a Saudi courtroom Tuesday facing a new trial for his alleged role in a 2007 schoolyard brawl that ended with the death of a 19-year-old man.
Sultan Kohail's Tuesday hearing was supposed to determine whether his retrial should be held in a public or private setting -- a distinction that will significantly impact the legal options available to the 17-year-old Canadian citizen.
Liberal MP Dan McTeague told Â鶹´«Ã½net that the court involved in Tuesday's hearing "basically decides whether this should be a private or a public trial, within the context of the adult court system -- which means the severity of the penalty could be -- as we saw in the case of (his brother) Mohamed -- the death sentence."
If his case is deemed a public case, Kohail would be able to ask for an official pardon from the Saudi king.
When a decision was reached on Tuesday, Kohail was freed on bail after an additional upcoming hearing was pushed back by several weeks.
McTeague, the Liberal consular affairs critic who has been closely involved with the case, called Kohail's extended freedom "a glimmer of hope."
"Sultan remains in the care of his parents, he is on bail, he was not imprisoned today," he said.
Kohail appeared in court after his initial sentence was overturned. He had originally been sentenced to 200 lashes and one year in jail. But the prosecution called for a new trial, and he will now face charges in an adult court.
On Tuesday, the accused teenager's lawyers also argued that his case should be heard by judges who were not involved in the case of his older brother, Mohamed Kohail, who has already been convicted in the death of Munzer Haraki.
Haraki died during a schoolyard fight and Mohamed Kohail has been sentenced to death by beheading.
Muhanna Ezzat, a 22-year-old Jordanian friend of the brothers, has also been convicted in connection with the death.
McTeague told Â鶹´«Ã½net that it appears the incident involving the Kohail brothers "was a matter of self defense."
He said the request Sultan Kohail's lawyers made on Tuesday was related to concerns that "if this same group, this same panel of judges were to judge this case...the same outcome might occur," he said.
McTeague said Mohamed Kohail's own need for help is especially urgent as he is down to his final appeal -- with the country's supreme council.
"We are running out of time with respect to Mohamed Kohail, who has really one appeal left and that is with the supreme council," he said.
"They could rule as early as the first or second week of January."
After that, the Saudi king is the only person who can intervene in Mohamed Kohail's case, McTeague said.
He said the king could decide to uphold the case, order a new trial or provide a full pardon for the elder Kohail.
Saving Mohamed Kohail's life will "require the direct intervention of the minister of foreign affairs and the prime minister to ensure that the Saudis are left with no impression other than the fact that Canada takes this case of two innocents very seriously," McTeague said.
The Kohails are of Palestinian origin and hold Canadian citizenship. Their family says they temporarily relocated to Saudi Arabia from Montreal in 2006.
Ottawa has said it will ask Saudi Arabia for clemency for Mohamed Kohail.
"Things seem to only be getting worse for the family," Kohail family spokesperson Mahmoud Al-Ken told The Canadian Press prior to Sultan Kohail's appearance in court.
"Every time it swings to something hopeful, it gets worse."
Al-Ken says he wants to see more diplomatic efforts from Ottawa.
With files from The Canadian Press
