The Supreme Court here annulled Saturday a death sentence handed down by the General Court – and approved by the Court of Cassation – to two high school pupils accused of murdering a fellow student, Munther Al-Haraki. The court also decided that the case against 23-year-old Canadian Muhammad Kohail and 22-year-old Jordanian Muhanna Masood should be tried again by a new judicial committee in accordance with the regulations. Lawyer Saleh Bin Misfer Al-Ghamdi who is defending the two, said the annulment was based on the fact that the killing was not intentional. The death occurred during a melee and no lethal weapon was involved, he said. Obaid Bin Ahmad Al-Aiyafi, the lawyer of the family of the deceased, said he respects the Supreme Court's point of view. But, he said, the verdict will not necessarily be final as the new committee might have the same verdict as the one approved by eight judges of the General Court. The accused will still be detained until a final decision is made,” he said. The Court of Cassation had approved the General Court's verdict of death sentence for the two, for killing their schoolmate in front of a private school in Al-Shate District in January 2007. The two convicted men – Kohail and Masood – along with Kohail's younger brother, Sultan, 18, were charged with the murder of Al-Haraki in an after-school fight in Jeddah in January 2007. The fight allegedly erupted when Sultan, who was 17 at the time, harassed Al-Haraki's 19-year-old cousin, Raneem. Sultan's case is still ongoing in the General Court after an Appeals Court threw out a previous ruling of 200 lashes and a year in prison by a juvenile court and ordered a retrial in an adult court. Sultan may also face the death penalty if found guilty. In Toronto, Canada's Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Catherine Loubier said Kohail's death sentence was commuted. “This is good news. Canada encourages the abolition of the death penalty internationally,” said Loubier.
