An Iraqi court has sentenced a Saudi man to 15 years' imprisonment for entering the country illegally. Majid Saeed Al-Hamid informed his family of the sentence in a phone call a few days ago. The phone call was the first the family has had from Majid since he was handed over by US forces to Iraqi authorities three years ago. According to Majid's brother Ibrahim, the family has appealed to Saudi authorities to assign a lawyer for his defense as the “sentence is too harsh.” Ibrahim said the Red Cross team which visited his brother in Sosah Prison in Iraqi Kurdistan also held the same view. The brother added that the punishment for such a crime is six months according to international law, noting that American forces arrested his brother six months after his arrival in Iraq, and kept him in Baghdad Airport Prison, then Abu Graib, before finally putting him in Umm Qasr Prison.
