Mohamed Kohail

Mohamamed Kohail (age 23), is a Canadian citizen who might be the first westerner in decades to be executed in Saudi Arabia. He has been judged guilty in a Saudi court for the murder of a 19 years old, Munzer Hiraki, during a fight in a school yard in 2007. In accordance with Saudi law, he is planned to be beheaded in public.

Details

The family spent several years in Montreal before recently returning to Saudi Arabia.

In January 2007, Mohamed and Sultan were involved in a fight that broke out after a girl’s male cousin accused Sultan of insulting her. The brother demanded an apology, but Sultan refused. Sultan, then 16, said he called for help from Mohamed when he was confronted by several boys over the insult. According to the account of the Kohail brothers, Mohamed Kohail arrived at the school with a male friend to face about a dozen of the girl’s male relatives and friends. But the girl's relatives stated that they were more than 14 guys and a video taken by a schoolgirl from her cellphone proves that the Kohails were more than 14. Some were armed with clubs and knives. A brutal brawl started and according to the victim's cousins, Sultan, Mohamed and another boy grouped on Munzer and beat him to death. The Kohails deny that Munzer died because of the fight but they say that he had heart problems. But the autopsy proved that the victim's heart was in perfect condition and his death was caused by brutal blows to the back of his head, chest and between his legs. [ [http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/03/03/4897376-cp.html CANOE - CNEWS - Canada: Montrealer faces Saudi beheading ] ]

On March 3 2008 the court sentenced Mohamed Kohail to be executed by public beheading.

The death penalty by beheading in Saudi Arabia is executed in public after Friday noon prayer by chopping off his head using a sword.

During the hearing on March 3, the Kohail defense had brought two witnesses but the court did not take them into consideration. The reason for that is because the case was clear and it showed Kohail was guilty.

The Canadian government is considering requesting clemency for Kohail.

Sultan and Mohammed Kohail, as well as Mehanna Sa'ad are subjects of an Amnesty International appeal [http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE23/037/2008/en] . The appeal is based on several grounds: unfair trial, juvenile execution (in Sultan's case: Saudi Arabia is bound by the Convention on the Rights of the Child not to execute anyone for a crime committed when under the age of 18), torture and Amnesty International's unequivocal opposition to the death penalty.

Verdict

This is the verdict announcing Kohail's Sentence together with Muhanna Massoud.

There are 5 important points to notice:

(Red): The Verdict refers back to the confession of Mohamed Kohail and Muhanna Masoud. This confession was taken under the torture of the Saudi Police. Sultan suffered from a broken leg in custody. Moreover, Muhammad Kohail was mislead by the police telling him if he signed he did punch Monzer in the stomach then he will be let free. Muhamed signs the document, and after that he was told Monzer Passed away. When Mohamed was identifying the person he punshed he pointed at Moneer Haraki not Munzer. But the video clearly shows that Moneer was not fighting at all and many witnesses including the school principal said that Mohammed, Sultan and Muhanna were beating Munzer.

Yellow): The statement says: "witnesses agreed unanimously on the beating however disagreed on the tool used". Two points we have to mention:a) The witnesses referred to in the statement were the prosecutor's witnesses. b) Those witnesses do not carry the same version of the story as said in the verdict. This is considered by law a solid ground for a reasonable doubt in such a case.

(Green): The sentence says: "even both [Mohamed and Muhanna) claim that the other group initiated the fight and they were not the ones to start. The fight was carried in an open public space and then they could have run away but they chose to carry on the fight". a) This statement takes away the self defense right from Kohail and Massoud.b. It is suggesting that if there is someone beating you, you should run away and you are guilty of not doing so, stating an opinion in a judicial verdict.

(Blue): Statement clearly says that the reason behind death is the internal bleeding in the bottom of the stomach complicated with the sickness of the heart. This statement is sufficient to change the entire case from a first degree murder case into a manslaughter case. This denies all what has been said about internal bleeding in the brain or anything else.

(light green): Kohail and Muhanna have 30 days to appeal.

References