DUBAI: A Canadian man awaiting trial in Saudi Arabia is facing deteriorating health concerns, friends of the family have reported. According to The Canadian Press, Mohamed Kohail has been behind bars since 2007 on murder charges and had been sentenced to beheading by sword before the country's Supreme Court overturned the death sentence in 2010. The Montreal resident, his friends and relatives said, has been waiting for a retrial since, but has developed a number of health problems as a result of his jailing. Sources close to the 26-year-old told The Canadian Press he had multiple operations this past summer for chronic tuberculosis — with the infection spreading dangerously close to his spinal cord. According to the report, he narrowly escaped paralysis earlier this year. Born in Palestine, Kohail and his younger brother Sultan moved to Canada with their family in 2000 and became Canadian citizens in 2005. They moved to Jedda in 2006. The Canadian foreign ministry has been hush over the jailing of one of its citizens, but in recent weeks has seemingly put increase pressure on the government in Riyadh to release Kohail and another Canadian citizen and his family who have also been detained in the country. Earlier this month, Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis said that the government must do more to pressure the conservative Gulf kingdom for their release. The MP has called on the government that Canada should, at the very least, “pressure for the children, two girls, aged 18 months and five years, to be released.” He said their jailing is a violation of international law and it should not matter what the parents are charged with. In a statement released by Karygiannis' office, he said Majeed Uddin Ahmed, his wife Zareen and their two girls were picked up by police two weeks ago in Jeddah, where the family has been living for about four years. No information has been released on why the family was arrested. BM
