Mohamed Kohail won't die today

The CBC and the Globe and Mail are reporting that Canadian citizen Mohamed Kohail, on death row in Saudi Arabia for allegedly causing the death of a schoolmate in 2007, is no longer sentenced to die.

According to the reports, the Supreme Judicial Council, Saudi Arabia's highest court, has revoked the death penalty against Mohamed Kohail though not against his brother Sultan (who is being tried separately for his unclear role in the same incident) and not against a third defendant, a Jordanian citizen. It appears that Mohamed may simply be tried again by a newly constituted lower court.

It is unclear how this new ruling is different from a similar one in February of last year, when the Supreme Judicial Council in essence revoked the death penalty against Mohamed by returning the case to the lower court for further review.

Then as now, the ruling apparently in Mohamed's favour is not tantamount to clemency. As the Tuque Souq has commented, only King Abdullah (perhaps under diplomatic pressure) or the family of the victim (perhaps after a restitution payment of several million dollars) can grant clemency.

The guilt or innoncence of Mohamed Kohail under the arm of Saudi jurisprudence has not changed, either. Therefore all we know for sure is that Mohamed Kohail won't die today.

Related posts:

Mohamed Kohail, in his own words

Chop Chop... is Mohamed Kohail next?

Save Mohamed Kohail: Update February 2009

Mohamed Kohail update: Urgent appeal for clemency

Foul play suspected in death of Camel queen

The distraught owner of a beloved, beauty-queen camel is suing the Saudi Aramco oil company for negligent behavior which may have resulted in the tragic and mysterious death of the beast.

Olive, a black three-year-old ungulate who recently competed for the title of Miss Camel Saudi Arabia, was out strutting her stuff through the desert the other night when she allegedly fell into a hole filed with crude oil. Saudi Aramco frequently digs random holes in the desert and fills them with surplus crude (possibly for sale at a later date when the market rebounds).

By the time she was found, it was too late. Regrettably, it is the first fossil-fuel related death ever recorded.

The camel's owner, Abdullah al-Saiari, is seeking one million riyals ($283,400) in damages in a lawsuit filed in a Riyadh court.

But the court may have to consider more than just the value of a pretty dead camel. Foul play cannot be ruled out in Olive's bizarre demise.

Camel beauty contests are at least as prestigious in the Arabian peninsula as Chuck-wagon races are in Calgary, and the death of a top competitor so close to a major competition is bound to raise some big, bushy eyebrows.

The annual Pan-Arabian Pageant in Abu Dhabi, in which Olive was expected to compete, attracts over 24,000 camels from across the peninsula; the bejeweled crown is considered the most holy grail that a camel can ever hope to attain.

During the nine-day competition each spring, the camels parade about in front of discerning judges who evaluate the size of their eyes, the sheen of their hair, the arch of their nose, the bauble of their lower lip, the width of their toes, the length of their neck, and of course, the perfectly proportioned dimensions of their hump and their rump.

Olive the camel was reputed to have it all and then some, which is why her death should be shrouded in controversy. Did a jealous rival want to keep her out of the pageant? Did Aramco have money riding on the competition? Or was the intense pressure of being beautiful finally too much for Olive to bear?

Sadly, we may never know what was the straw that broke the camel's back.

For rhyme and reason, Saudi couple to divorce

A Saudi woman, supposedly happily married to her husband for 17 years*, is filing for divorce after discovering that he invented an unwelcome nickname for her in his cell phone: Guantánamo.

Apparently the husband thought it would be a splendid repartee if, while out late nights with the boys, he could look at his ringing cell phone and declare, "Hush up, shabaab, Guantánamo is calling... Do you want Guantánamo to know where we are? If I have to go to Guantánamo now, I'll be in real trouble."

But the wife was not amused. According to her statement to police she said:

I am a truthful woman,
from the land where the palm trees grow,
and sometimes I do want to
let the verses out of my soul.
But a guantanamera? I am not a guantanamera.

My husband is a horrible man.
Here I grow a white rose, in July as in January,
and give it to him who gives me his open hand.
And this is how he repays me?!
A guantanamera? I swear I am not a guantanamera.

He pretends that he's this wounded stag seeking refuge in the mountain,
where the brook gives him more pleasure than the sea.
But do you know the last time he pleasured me?
Let's just say that my verse is not exactly flaming red lately.
Guantanamera? I'm no f*cking guantanamera.**


* From the Tuque Souq math department: 30-year-old woman minus 17 years of marriage equals: Hombre, you married a 13-year-old and you have the gall to call her names?!

** Guantanamera, of the famous poem/song by José Martí, is spanish for "Woman from Guantánamo." Full English translation here.

Saudi cleric erect over co-ed university

Saudi Arabia's new King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) doesn't exactly roll off the tongue like Oxford, Stanford, or NSCAD, but it's already dropping a lot of jaws.

The main attraction isn't the state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, the DOW-funded chemical R&D program, the eco-friendly architecture of the entire campus, the $10-billion start-up endowment, or the gorgeous landscape of the university set between the desert and the Red Sea.

Nah, the biggest draw to the school are the chicks. KAUST is Saudi Arabia's first co-educational university, a fact which has drawn the ire of conservative clerics such as Sheikh Saad bin Nasser al-Shithri, a member of the influential Council of Senior Clerics.

Sheikh al-Shithri, who also objected to the university's teaching of such controversial topics as evolution, relativity and gravity, was especially incensed at the admission of women to the school, which he believes contravenes Saudi interpretation of Islamic Law.

"Look," he said. "I've got nothing against women. It's just that, at university... well, have you seen the film Animal House? All those nice boys came to university to study in an austere environment, but when they discovered women they turned to drugs, sex, and these very improper shenanigans like 'road trips' and 'toga parties.' After that, even if they managed to graduate they'd be no good to society."*

After his comments sparked an outrage, Sheikh al-Shithri tried to back down from the controversy, saying he wasn't opposed to all forms of sexual expression at KAUST. For example, of the university's absurdly superfluous and hackneyed phallic seaside tower he approved enthusiastically. "But," he concluded, "that's the only erection we want to have on this campus."

Since the university opened last month, Sheikh al-Shithri has been asked to step down from the Council of Senior Clerics. None of them care to be reminded that they never got to go to a toga party, either.

* - What Sheikh al-Shithri actually said was more like, "When men mix with women, their hearts burn, and they will be diverted from their main goal, which is education." However, like Saudi Islamic Law, translation has many interpretations.

Bahrain wins Coupe de Ramadan 2009

In an epic battle in which the opposing sides pitted not just their soccer skills but also their piety, humility, reverence, atonement and self-purification against each other, Bahrain eliminated Saudi Arabia in a World Cup qualification match with a 2-2 draw in Riyadh.

The match started at well past 10pm local time due to Ramadan--the ninth and holiest month of the Islamic calendar during which many Muslims fast and pray by day and feast and (according to some interpretations) play soccer by night.

Bahrain's substitute midfielder Ismail Abdullatif proved to be the holiest, most reverent player on the pitch, as his diving header just seconds from the final whistle shocked the host Saudis and sent them crashing out of the two-legged elimination match on the away goals rule.

The two sides drew 0-0 in the first leg at Bahrain's National Stadium in Manama last week, a game in which the Saudis' stellar goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah showed off his piety and atonement by making save after gilded save.

The victory for Bahrain now means the tiny island nation is just one small step away from its first ever World Cup finals berth--a home-and-away playoff versus New Zealand in November for the right to book a ticket to South Africa. Meanwhile, after qualifying for 5 straight World Cup finals, the Saudis are out.

In related news, this year marked the very first time ever that the Saudi Council of Senior Scholars--the country's arbiters of all things religious and one of the most important authorities in the Sunni Muslim world--permitted the use of telescopes to determine the start of Ramadan (sighting the crescent after a new moon).

On the other hand, Bahrain--a mostly Muslim country two-thirds of whom are Shi'ite--not only still relies on the naked eye to determine the start of Ramadan, it often relies on two or three naked eyes which don't always see the same thing. Very often, the country's Shia and Sunni communities do not begin the holy month at the same time!

However, this year proved to be a rare harmony of naked-eye moon sightings, as Bahrain's two Muslim communites actually agreed on the start date for Ramadan. Clearly Bahrain's subsequent triumph on the soccer field shows us just what Allah thinks of telescopes.

And speaking of atonement, no one is gearing up for Yom Kippur quite like the Israeli national soccer team. After a humiliating 1-0 home loss to Latvia last week that saw them all but eliminate themselves from qualification, the Team of David atoned with a 7-0 thumping of lowly Luxembourg at Ramat Gan stadium, after which they remain infinitesimally mathematically alive to qualify with two games remaining.

Iranian Booze Cruise crashes in Saudi Arabia

An Iranian cargo ship with 6 sailors and 1500 cans of beer got lost in a storm in the Persian Gulf and crash landed in Saudi Arabia, where a local rescue team saved the sailors from further danger with emergency rations of nuts, pretzels and turmus.

Saudi authorities reported that the Iranian crew of the vessel were at least "17 sheets to the wind"; the legal limit in Saudi Arabia is 3.

Once the crew were safe, authorities seized the ship’s cargo, which included approximately 2000 bottles of hard liquor and mixes, as well as 1500 beer cans. Many more were blown ashore.

Saudi authorities quickly and humanely destroyed all the booze, though no detail was given as to the method of disposal.

Alcoholic beverages are officially banned in Iran, where every year dozens die from ingesting moonshine. Saudi Arabia also enforces prohibition; in 2006 twenty Saudis died from drinking cologne as a substitute for booze.

WIRE ACT
Since we've been offline for a week, here's a freshly distilled flask of the latest headlines from around the Middle East:

Leaked information from a UN report suggested that Hezbollah killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri... but Syria Comment sees a conspiracy... a Jewish Israeli woman in Holland borrowed an Arab nom de plume to win an Arabic poetry contest... Bahrain finally caught the Swine Flu... a bill before the Israeli Knesset would make it a crime to be Palestinian... an Egyptian millionaire was sentenced to death for arranging the murder of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim [pictured]... Iran launched a surface-to-air missile at Facebook... hmmm, another Libyan dissident died mysteriously... the government of Oman denied that the local temperature reached 47 degrees... Yemen is troubled by a surge in pesticide smuggling.

And, just as the Tuque Souq predicted in March, Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah has been named Prime Minister of Kuwait for the 784th time.

Mohamed Kohail, in his own words

The Canadian Press released a story late yesterday confirming that Mohamed Kohail, the Canadian citizen on death row in Saudi Arabia, delivered a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper via Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai who visited Mohamed Kohail in prison in Jeddah last December.

Extra troubling, aside from the obvious, is that Mr. Obhrai wouldn't confirm whether Mr. Harper even read the letter, leading critics to charge that the Harper administration is trying its best to stay out of this whole affair.

Here is Mohamed Kohail in his own words, to PM Harper:

“Mr. Harper, I have been in jail for two years now. I am imprisoned with hundreds (of) high-profile criminals in Saudi Arabia for a crime that I did not commit... I was tortured to sign a confession... I was misinformed that I would be allowed out of custody the moment I signed it...

“Mr. Harper, I'm 24 now and I don't know how much (more) time I will spend in prison or how much time is actually left on my life... You have ordered your officials to seek clemency for me in Saudi Arabia back in early March (of 2008). However, I have not seen tangible actions made since then... Every time I was assured by the Canadian Embassy (representative) that the government is working secretly on the highest level of officials, the court upholds the death penalty... I was told by the judges that I should not think I would escape the death penalty ... since I am Canadian...

“I've lost my hair, two years of my life and see death coming to me closer every day... I want to come back to Canada to finish my degree — me and the rest of the family — and continue my life as a good citizen... [I beg you to use] every way possible to get me out of this situation.”

Last week, the government of Saudi Arabia decapitated five men--among them Sultan Bin Sulayman Bin Muslim al-Muwallad of Saudi Arabia and ‘Issa bin Muhammad ‘Umar Muhammad of Chad, both of whom were 17 when they committed (admittedly atrocious) crimes--in public executions. This brings the toll to 36 so far this year on Saudi Arabia's state-run chop blocks.

Anyone who thinks Mohamed Kohail has a magic get-out-of-beheading-free card is sorely mistaken. As the Tuque Souq has pointed out here, here and here, the Harper clique is about the only hope that Mohamed Kohail has for justice.

The Harper government spent political capital (and almost certainly a few million loonies, through various channels) to bring home two Canadian diplomats kidnapped in western Africa. Is the cost really that much higher for Mohamed Kohail, or for that matter Abousfian Abdelrazik or Omar Khadr?

Save Mohamed Kohail: Update February 2009

Earlier this month, the fate of Mohamed Kohail for the first time in 2 years looked infinitesimally sunnier after the Supreme Judicial Council of Saudi Arabia decided against upholding the death sentence against the Canadian citizen, his brother Sultan, and a third co-defendant who is Jordanian.

The Council asked the lower court to revisit its ruling and death sentence. This is not the same thing as the Supreme Council rejecting the death sentence; by not upholding the ruling the Supreme Council is basically asking the lower court: "Are you sure?" The Kohails are far from in the clear.

[Brief background: the Kohail bros. are on death row in Saudi Arabia for allegedly causing the death of a schoolmate in a brawl in January 2007. They are Canadian citizens of Palestinian origin. Find out more in our Tuque Souq Mohamed Kohail bureau.]

Liberal MP Dan McTeague (Pickering-Scarborough East) is Parliament's point man on the negotiations to free the Kohails (at least from the clutches of the Saudi justice system). Click here to send the Hon. McTeague an email, encouraging him to step it up and free these boys on death row.

Also, an update on an item we mentioned in an earlier Kohail post:
There is an online petition for clemency for Rizana Nafeek, the Sri Lankan national who is facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia for allegedly causing the death of an infant she was babysitting; Rizana was 17 at the time. According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, Ms Nafeek is very ill in prison and must undergo surgery while awaiting the outcome of her trial.

[Also not so unrelated: this press release from the Canadian Association of Journalists came across the wire today about freelance Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, who is still missing and presumed kidnapped in Somalia for 6 months now.]

Saudi executions down 33% in 2008, but the damned aren't consoled

The decapitation of Mohamad al-Sehimi in Saudi Arabia on December 30th brought the number of executions in the kingdom in 2008 to 102, which is way more than even Texas.

The Saudi record for executions in a year is 158, set last year, according to Amnesty International.

For 2009, whither Mohamed and Sultan Kohail, the Canadian brothers on death row in Saudi Arabia for allegedly causing the death of a classmate in a schoolyard skirmish? Ever since our government went on a 7-week holiday, there's been no update on the status of the Harper clique's attempt to bring the brothers home.

The Kohails remain on death row in Saudi Arabia, facing execution by beheading. They are not alone. Rizana Nafeek faces the death penalty any day now for the alleged killing of a child she was babysitting; she was 17 at the time and never saw a lawyer on her way to sentencing. She's also not a Saudi national, rather a foreign worker like much of the kingdom's labour force.

Gulf countries vie for World Cup qualification

The Asia regional World Cup qualifying has entered the final round; 2 groups of 5 teams are competing for 4 automatic berths to South Africa 2010 (the top 2 teams in each group qualify). The 3rd place teams in each group will play a home-and-away playoff to determine the 5th place team overall, and that team will then play a home-and-away playoff against Oceania regional champs New Zealand for an at-large berth to the World Cup.

In Group 1, the Arab reps are Bahrain and Qatar, who are matched up with runaway co-favourites Australia and Japan, as well as minnowy Uzbekistan, in what is sure to be a heated battle for 3rd place.
Qatar and Bahrain are natural rivals, staring at each other from across the narrow Gulf of Bahrain, owners of a testy border/island dispute, trying to mend fences with bridges, and similarly inspired in flag-making.

Both national squads feature foreign-born stars. Qatar are led by Uruguayan-born midfielder Sebastian Quintana, while one of Bahrain's top young players is Nigerian-born Jaycee Okwunwanee.

Fittingly, the 2 teams opened this final group qualifying stage by playing each other to a 1-1 draw in Doha. The return leg won't be until April 1 in Manama, at which time the game will likely determine 3rd place in the standings and a playoff position.

Both squads have tough home matches this week against the Group 1 powerhouses, with Qatar hosting Japan and Bahrain Australia.

Over in Group 2, the battle for automatic qualification figures to be a three-horse race between South Korea, Iran and Saudia Arabia, which currently all sit tied for first after just 2 matches.
The Saudis have made 4 straight World Cups, managing a combined 2-2-9 record (with both of those wins coming during the 1994 World Cup when they reached the quarterfinals). A balanced team known for stingy defence, Saudi Arabia are still climbing back from their all-time worst FIFA ranking of 81, just after their goalless '06 WC. Despite their pedigree, the Saudis are no shoe-ins to make it to South Africa.

The United Arab Emirates, reigning Arabian Gulf Cup champions but considered long shots to qualify, sit fifth in the Group 2 table at 0-0-3 (including a tough loss to Saudi Arabia to open the final round). Wednesday's home clash with Iran is therefore a must-win game. But hope remains, especially with their talisman striker Ismael Matar (check out this sweet goal of his from the AGC tourney) in fine form with 5 goals so far.

The UAE have one World Cup finals on their resume, qualifying for the 1990 Italy WC where they finished 0-0-3.

Other Gulf and Middle Eastern states (not counting North Africa) to qualify for the World Cup in the past: Iraq in 1986 (finished 0-0-3); and Kuwait in 1982 (actually managed a draw against Czechoslovakia).

How did the other Middle Eastern countries - Syria, Jordan, Oman et al - fare in the earlier qualification rounds? Check it out here.

In other Middle East football news, we congratulate Palestine for recently playing its first-ever international soccer game on home soil, drawing 1-1 with Jordan.

The Tuque Souq will keep tabs on the World Cup qualifying in the months ahead, including a preview of the Africa region showdown involving hopefuls Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. And we'll check in with the European qualifying, where Israel have a favourable group draw that could see them in their first World Cup finals.

Mohamed Kohail update

In the battle to save the lives of Canadian citizens Mohamed and Sultan Kohail, the final showdown may come down to the Canadian government versus the family of the boy that Mohamed [PICTURED] and Sultan are accused of murdering.

[See this earlier Tuque Souq post for a background on the two brothers' dire situation on death row in Saudi Arabia.]

From a recent article in The Globe and Mail: "Under Saudi law, the victim's family can grant mercy just before the execution. The father of the dead man told The Globe and Mail he will forgive the brothers if they admit their guilt and Canadian officials back off their efforts to help them."

Essentially, the family of the victim wants the boys to fess up (after a Saudi court already found both boys guilty in separate, highly secretive trials earlier this year) before it will wield its power of clemency.

But an admission of guilt will take away Canada's moral high ground on this issue: namely, to criticize the dubious Saudi justice system and argue before the court of public opinion (at least in Canada) that the boys did not receive a fair trial. No doubt the Saudi government would love to see the two condemned boys torpedo their own claims of injustice and exonerate the Saudi system of jurisprudence in the face of Western criticism.

It's a dangerous bluff. If the Canadian government calls it, perhaps the boys' lives will still be saved by our steadfast commitment to the laws and principles of this country. If we take the path of least resistance - and let the boys plead guilty (which may or may not save their lives) - we'll just be another Western-elite hypocrite and we'll weaken our ability to save future lives and argue against tyrannical forms of justice.

Bring Mohamed Kohail back to Canada

Justifiably making the teacups rattle on Parliament Hill this week was the case of Mohamed Kohail, a Canadian citizen from the Montreal suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux who, on March 3 at 13:00 local time, was sentenced to death – by public beheading, it is presumed – for murder in Saudi Arabia.

[Concerned Canadians should consider signing this petition.]

The plight of young Mohamed, who received what would graciously be described as abominable due process, gives the Harper government a chance to review its own policy, announced last October, that it would no longer go to bat for Canadians found guilty of crimes in “democratic countries where the individual will receive a fair trial.”

Of course, few people outside of those secret courtrooms in Saudi Arabia would argue that Mohamed Kohail received a fair trial, which is why the Canadian government can sound so magnanimous in seeking clemency for this young man.

A Canadian Press story recaps the events of the crime, which took place in January, 2007:

The two boys [Mohamed Kohail, then aged 22, and his brother 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. Some were armed with clubs and knives. One of the attackers was punched, fell to the ground and died. He has been identified as Munzer Haraki [aged 19], a cousin of the girl who was supposedly insulted.

For the sake of liberating Mohamed Kohail and his brother (still awaiting trial and a possible death sentence), the Harper government’s case-by-case approach to protecting Canadians abroad should be wielded to do, at the very minimum, exactly what it can: spare the life of a human being, who fortunately in this case happens to be a Canadian citizen.

Assuming, for the time being, that the Harper government presses Saudi Arabia and the latter agrees to at least commute Mohamed Kohail’s sentence, Harper’s inarticulate litmus test for “democratic countries” and “fair trial” should come under further scrutiny. As NDP leader Jack Layton put it:

“It [Harper’s policy] means they're not going to know, they're going to have to check with the prime minister to see whether a Canadian facing a death penalty in one country is going to be defended, whether a Canadian in a different country is not… [The government is choosing] which country offers a death penalty that it finds acceptable.”

But let's not forget that Canada, by law, actually finds the death penalty unacceptable, and therefore there is no democracy nor quasi-democracy nor totalitarian oil-rich kingdom on Earth whose “fair trial” leading to the execution of a Canadian citizen should be palatable to a Canadian government.

Then, of course, there is the matter of taking Saudi Arabia to formidable task for its death-penalty policy, described in some of its terrible detail by Amnesty International Canada: religious and racial discrimination, accusations of witchcraft and apostasy, imprisonment without trial; these and other so-called crimes that often lead to public beheadings.

In fact, it was AI’s USA branch that much earlier detailed the horrific prospects facing Mohamed Kohail and his brother, in a release [PDF] last August about the execution of Saudi citizen Dhahian Rakan al-Sibai’i, who was found guilty of an alleged murder he committed while he was a child and killed by his own government.

No one expects Harper to take very much action. While the case of Mohamed Kohail should not be ignored until he is finally beyond the clutches of the brutal Saudi justice system, neither should that justice system continue to escape the attention of “democratic nations” such as ours even when Mohamed is finally back in Canada.