Canadian Sentenced to Death in Saudi dares Prime Minister Stephen Harper to ACT!!

Mohamed Kohail, sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for his role in the death of a man in an after-school brawl in 2007 has written directly to the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen HarperStephen Harper seeking his intervention in the case. The letter was presented by Kohail's family members to Stockwell DayStockwell Day, International Trade Minister, who was recently in Jeddah on a Middle East trade mission.

The contents of the letter seem to indicate that it is less of a request petition and more of an instrument to blame the Canadian government for their alleged inaction. Kohail, who's said to have written earlier too to the Prime Minister hopes that the letter spurs the head of the state enough to spend "10 minutes" in contacting the Saudi king to get him out of the prison.

Kohail compares his case to that of William Sampson, a Canadian-British dual citizen who was awarded amnesty in 2003 after two years in jail on charges of involvement in multiple bombings in Riyadh, and bemoans that he is exceeding the term Sampson spent in jail even though his case is bereft of any political implications.

"I feel my government had failed to help me in every simple legal and (consular) procedure, which led me to the fate I am facing today, beheading by sword," Kohail minces no words in putting the onus of his eviction from jail on the Canadian authorities.

It remains to be seen if Ottawa budges at least now or gives its standard pursuing-all-avenues-to-assist response to Kohail. Kohail's elder brother Sultan had received a sentence of an year in prison coupled with 200 lashes on charges of being an accomplice in the case.

- myVox