Kohail murder case

Last updated
Mohamed and Sultan Kohail
BornMohamed Kohail - 1985 (age 34–35) [1]
Sultan Kohail 1991 (age 28–29) [1]
Saudi Arabia
OccupationStudents
Criminal statusReleased
Conviction(s) Found guilty by Saudi low level general court
Criminal chargeMohamed Kohail - Murder [1]
Sultan Kohail Accessory to Murder
PenaltyMohamed Kohail - Death by Beheading [1]
Sultan Kohail - originally sentenced to one year in prison and will receive 200 lashes [1] later overturned on appeal. [2]

Mohamed Kohail (born 1985) and Sultan Kohail (born 1991) are naturalized Canadian citizens born in Saudi Arabia. They lived there for 16 years before moving to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 2000 and gaining citizenship. Mohamed had been found guilty in a Saudi court for the murder of a 19-year-old Syrian boy, Munzer Hiraki, who died in a schoolyard brawl in January 2007. [3] Mohamed was sentenced to death and Sultan to 200 lashes. Their sentences were later commuted.

Incident, trial and aftermath

In January 2007, Mohamed and his brother Sultan were involved in a fight that broke out after a girl's male cousin accused Sultan of insulting her. [4] The girl's cousin 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. [4] According to the brothers' account, Mohamed Kohail arrived at the school with a male friend to face about a dozen of the girl's male relatives and friends, some armed with clubs and knives. [4] A brawl started, and according to the victim's cousins, Sultan, Mohamed and another boy beat Munzer to death. No footage exists of that action, but clear footage showed the victim, Munzer, kicking Mohamed in the head. [5]

Their original trial before the General Court took place over nine sessions, lasting approximately 10 minutes per session. [3] Their lawyer was allowed to attend only the last one or two, and was not allowed to challenge the evidence brought against his clients. [3] During the hearing on March 3, the Kohail defense brought two witnesses but the court did not take them into consideration.[ citation needed ]

The Kohail defense team denied that Munzer died because of the fight but rather due to heart problems, as evidenced by the autopsy. [5] Munzer's mother presented a health certificate dated six months previously which indicated that he was in perfect condition. When asked why she had obtained a health certificate, Munzer's mother replied that her son needed a health certificate so that he could run in a marathon.[ citation needed ]

On March 3, 2008 the court sentenced Mohamed Kohail to be executed by public beheading. [6] In February 2009, the Saudi Supreme Court rejected the death sentence and asked the lower court to revise its ruling. [4] However, on April 2, 2009, the lower court rejected the recommendation of the higher court and reconfirmed the death penalty. [7]

In May 2013 the Ottawa Citizen reported that Mohamed Kohail had been released from prison in December 2012. The family never released a statement and the release went uncovered in Saudi Arabia itself. [8]

Related Research Articles

Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a government-sanctioned practice whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The sentence ordering that someone be punished in such a manner is referred to as a death sentence, whereas the act of carrying out such a sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and is awaiting execution is referred to as condemned, and is said to be on death row. Crimes that are punishable by death are known as capital crimes, capital offences or capital felonies, and vary depending on the jurisdiction, but commonly include serious offences such as murder, mass murder, aggravated cases of rape, child rape, child sexual abuse, terrorism, treason, espionage, sedition, offences against the State, such as attempting to overthrow government, piracy, aircraft hijacking, drug trafficking, drug dealing, and drug possession, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and in some cases, the most serious acts of recidivism, aggravated robbery, and kidnapping.

William Sampson was a dual British and Canadian national who was arrested in Saudi Arabia on 17 December 2000 on a variety of charges including terrorism, espionage and murder. He was imprisoned and tortured for two years and seven months, and finally released and permitted to leave Saudi Arabia, along with several of his co-accused, on 8 August 2003.

Freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic absolute monarchy in which Sunni Islam is the official state religion based on firm Sharia law. Non-Muslims must practice their religion in private and are vulnerable to discrimination and deportation. It has been stated that no law requires all citizens to be Muslim, but also that non-Muslims are not allowed to have (gain?) Saudi citizenship. Children born to Muslim fathers are by law deemed Muslim, and conversion from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy and punishable by death. Blasphemy against Sunni Islam is also punishable by death, but the more common penalty is a long prison sentence. According to the U.S. Department of State's 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom, there have been 'no confirmed reports of executions for either apostasy or blasphemy' between 1913 and 2013.

Human rights in Saudi Arabia

Human rights in Saudi Arabia are often considered to be among the worst in the world. The Saudi government, which enforces Wahhabi sharia law under the absolute rule of the House of Saud, have been accused of and denounced by various international organizations and governments for violating multiple human rights within the country. The totalitarian regime ruling the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is consistently ranked among the "worst of the worst" in Freedom House's annual survey of political and civil rights. Qorvis MSLGroup, a U.S. subsidiary of Publicis Groupe, has been working with Saudi Arabia amidst its executions of political protesters and opponents for more than a decade to whitewash its record of human rights abuses.

Bashir Ahmed Makhtal is a Canadian citizen formerly held in an Ethiopian prison, where he was accused of terrorism and faced the death penalty. The Canadian government was criticized by several groups for its initial inaction on demanding Makhal's release, including Amnesty International.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Saudi Arabia. The country performed at least 158 executions in 2015, at least 154 in 2016, at least 146 in 2017, at least 149 in 2018, with possibly 184 executed in 2019.

Saudi Arabia's laws are an amalgam of rules from Sharia, royal decrees, royal ordinances, other royal codes and bylaws, fatwas from the Council of Senior Scholars and custom and practice.

Ali Hussain Sibat is a Lebanese national and former host of the popular call-in show that aired on satellite TV across the Middle East. On the show - described as "a Middle Eastern psychic hot line" by one source - he made predictions and gave advice to the audience.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the East African nation of Somalia. Most of executions in Somalia are through shooting, but Sharia courts also use beheading and stoning. In 2011 three soldiers were executed for murder by the Transitional Federal Government. The activist NGO Human Rights Watch noted in 2014 that summary executions were on the rise in the nation. At least 14 executions were carried out in 2016, and the rate of executions rose in 2017, which human rights groups mainly attributed to military courts and the militant jihadist group Al-Shabaab. The European Union requested that Somalia enact a moratorium on the death penalty as a result. Most executions by Firing squad occur publicly and persons sentenced to death are usually executed by armed guards.

Nimr al-Nimr 20th and 21st-century Shia Sheikh

Ayatollah Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, commonly referred to as Sheikh Nimr, was a Shia Sheikh in al-Awamiyah in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province whose arrest and execution was widely condemned, including by governments and human rights organizations.

The Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) is a non-Sharia court created in Saudi Arabia in 2008 that tries suspected terrorists and human rights activists. On 26 June 2011, the court started trials of 85 people suspected of being involved in Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the 2003 Riyadh compound bombings and in September 2011 another 41 al-Qaeda suspects appeared in the court. In the same year, the court held trial sessions of human rights activists, including co-founder Mohammed Saleh al-Bejadi of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) and Mubarak Zu'air, a lawyer for long-term prisoners, and Khaled al-Johani, who spoke to BBC Arabic Television at a protest in Riyadh, thus becoming known as "the bravest man in Saudi Arabia". The court convicted 16 of the human rights activists to sentences of 5–30 years' imprisonment on 22 November 2011.

Raif Badawi Saudi Arabian writer, activist, and creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals

Raif bin Muhammad Badawi is a Saudi writer, dissident and activist, as well as the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals.

Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr Saudi protestor

Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr is a Saudi Arabian political prisoner who as a teenager participated in the Saudi Arabian protests during the Arab Spring. He was arrested in February 2012, sentenced to death in May 2014, and as of 23 September 2015, awaited ratification of his sentence by King Salman of Saudi Arabia, to be carried out by beheading and crucifixion. Al-Nimr's trial was called unfair by United Nations expert Christof Heyns and Amnesty International, who called for the execution to be stopped, as did French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Ali al-Nimr is the nephew of Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, who was one of 47 executed during the 2016 Saudi Arabia mass execution. It is believed he will now be spared from execution following announcements from the Saudi government that people convicted as minors are not to be executed.

Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir Mauritanian engineer, blogger, and political prisoner

Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir is a Mauritanian blogger and political prisoner. He was sentenced to death after he wrote an article critical of Islam and the caste system in Mauritania. He is a designated prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

The 2017–2020 Qatif unrest is an ongoing phase of conflict in the Qatif region of Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, between Saudi security forces and the local Shia community, that arose sporadically starting in 1979, including a series of protests and repression during the 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests.

Several countries have either carried out or legislated capital punishment for cannabis trafficking.

Israa al-Ghomgham is a Saudi Arabian human rights advocate. She is especially known for her documentation of the 2017–18 Qatif unrest.

On 23 April 2019, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia carried out a mass execution of 37 imprisoned civilians who had been convicted, 21 on the basis of confessions allegedly obtained under coercion and torture, for terrorism-related allegations in six provinces in the country. Fourteen of the people executed had been convicted in relation to their participation in the 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests in Qatif, mostly on the basis of torture-induced confessions. The executions were carried out by beheading, and two of the bodies were left on public display. According to Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry the convicts were all Saudi nationals. Thirty-two of those executed belonged to the country's Shia minority.

Murtaja Qureiris is a Saudi Arabian activist and member of the minority Shia. Qureiris was accused by the Saudi Government of joining a "terror group" and "sowing sedition", and was arrested in September 2014, when he was 13. According to The Guardian, he has been periodically held in solitary confinement. The Saudi authorities have not publicly commented on any details about his case, although in 2018, Saudi prosecutors suggested that they would pursue the death penalty. In June 2019, Amnesty International asked Saudi Arabia to rule out the death penalty for Qureiris and other teenagers who were arrested in 2014.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Canadian a step closer to execution in Saudi Arabia". CBC News. November 7, 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  2. ↑ "Second brother from Montreal faces beheading". © (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc. Calgary Herald. August 14, 2008. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 "Document - Saudi Arabia: Further information on Death Penalty/ Fear of imminent execution". Amnesty International. 2007. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Saudi top court rejects death sentence of Canadian". CBC News. February 10, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  5. 1 2 Aubrey Harris (November 9, 2008). "Abolish the Death Penalty". Amnesty International Canada. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
  6. ↑ "Canadian's sons may be beheaded in Saudi Arabia". Montreal Gazette. November 7, 2008. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  7. ↑ "Saudi court upholds Montreal man's death sentence". CBC News. April 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
  8. ↑ Banerjee, Sidhartha (May 29, 2013). "CP exclusive: Canadian once slated for beheading in Saudi Arabia has been released from prison". The Canadian Press via Ottawa Citizen . Retrieved May 30, 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.