Time to act on Kohail's behalf

Though originally from Saudi Arabia, as Palestinians the Kohails have no citizenship there. Their only identity is their Canadian one. The only country that can intervene on the behalf of Mohamed and his brother is Canada.

The Kohails had moved here eight years ago. In 2006, they temporarily returned to Saudi Arabia. Their troubles since January 2007 are well-documented in The Chronicle and national media. Essentially, Mohamed and his younger brother Sultan got caught up in a schoolyard brawl that saw a Syrian youth, Munzer Haraki, end up dead. During an absolute parody of a trial, the Kohails, along with another young man from Jordan, Muhanna Ezzat, were charged with killing him.

In March, the death sentence was handed down for Mohamed and Ezzat, while Sultan, who was originally tried in a youth court and handed a verdict of 200 lashes and a year of jail time, is now slated to be retried in adult court.

While the Kohails' friends and former school, Cartier adult education centre in Beaconsfield, have done all they can to mobilize a popular movement to return him home or at least get him a fair retrial, response from the Canadian government has been pathetic at best. Questions by The Chronicle and several other media organizations to the Foreign Affairs Ministry have all been met with a variation on the same line parroted by different spokespeople, expressing concern on Mohamed's behalf and reassurances that Canadian diplomats have indeed been meeting with the family.

This late in the game, though, that is not just enough. The government's apparent inaction sank to a new low this week. While Mohamed's friends and the Liberal Opposition are claiming the final possible legal appeal launched by the Kohails has failed, and nothing short of a direct appeal by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah for clemency can possibly save his life, Foreign Affairs maintains no official verdict has been handed down.

This is probably due to a technicality, as the verdict may have been passed orally, but not officially written down for the record. However, it seems like a flimsy reason for Foreign Affairs to state Mohamed's life is not in danger. For all of their consulting with Mohamed's legal team and his family, embassy officials in Saudi Arabia have been unable to prevent the situation from reaching this level.

Perhaps, in a few more days, as the world waits to hear of Mohamed's execution, Foreign Affairs officials will claim the blade to be used on his neck has not quite been sharpened yet, and it is too soon to worry.