Cartier students assemble for Kohail

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

A roughly 700-strong petition demanding the Canadian government take more action to ensure a fair and impartial trial for Canadian citizen and former Dollard des Ormeaux resident Mohamed Kohail, was handed to Parliament last Thursday, following a general assembly at the youth's Beaconsfield school, Place Cartier Adult Education Centre on Wednesday.

A few years ago Mohamed Kohail used to eat at Cartier's cafeteria, and last week a group of about 200 students filled the room to capacity in order to learn about him.

"We're going to do whatever it takes," said Barry Gaiptman, a guidance councillor at Cartier who knew Kohail when the 23-year old youth used to live in Dollard des Ormeaux with his family and attended the school.

Gaiptman was referring to getting a fair trial for Kohail and his younger brother Sultan, 17, who are now in Saudi Arabia facing a death sentence and 200 lashes with a year of jail time respectively, after involvement in a schoolyard brawl in January 2007 that saw one student, Munzer Haraki, 19, dead.

Gaiptman and a group of Mohamed's close friends from his time at Cartier and Concordia University have been raising awareness of his cause ever since the older brother was handed his death sentence at the beginning of March.

"There are two incidents in my life where I was left speechless," said Mahmoud Al-Ken, 23, a friend of Mohamed's, to the gathered Cartier students. The first was when he received a phone call to inform him of Kohail's imprisonment, and the second was when he found out about the death sentence. "The only hope we have right now is you, you guys in Canada," Al-Ken said the Kohail family told him.

"They are obviously depending on us," confirmed Rana Saheb, a Concordia University student who knew the brothers closely as well. She was the first person in Canada to know of the death sentence.

According to Al-Ken, last January Sultan called Mohamed for help after he was threatened by about 10 people with chains and other weapons, including the victim, Munzer Haraki, for allegedly having insulted Haraki's younger cousin. Mohamed arrived on the scene with other youths. Parts of this battle were captured on a cell phone video camera that can now be seen online.

Haraki died after being pushed against a wall and receiving a fatal blow that complicated his heart condition, according to Al-Ken. He said by that time the two Kohail brothers were not even near the victim anymore, having been locked out of the fight by a school gate that was shut against them. Nevertheless, Mohamed was arrested at a hospital where he had gone to treat his wounds, completely unaware that somebody had died, said Al-Ken.

Currently, Mohamed is filing an appeal, and his younger brother will soon file his own. "We will not stop working on behalf of Mohamed until we can go to Dorval airport and meet him," Al-Ken said.

Gaiptman told The Chronicle there had been a gradual turn-around of student involvement in Kohail's case at Cartier, particularly after the latter's death sentence. One particular aspect that managed to grab students' attention was a mass-produced copy of Mohamed's Cartier ID card. "This told (the students) 'it could be you'," said Gaiptman.

Students were touched by the presentation. "I have a message to the victim's family," said Saadullah Tariq, 19, asking them to forgive Mohamed.

"I am very sad about him," said Suloshanan Manicakavasagar, 19.

"It is not the just thing," commented Cesar Ravazzano, 19, who planned to go to Ottawa the next day with Gaiptman and a group of students to deposit the petition.