The appeal hearing for a Montreal man facing execution in Saudi Arabia didn't go well Monday, as his lawyer was sent out of the courtroom while the session continued behind closed doors.

Mohamed Kohail, 23, was convicted of murder and sentenced on March 3 to a public beheading following a schoolyard brawl in 2007 that left an 18-year-old student dead.

Mohamed Kohail was sentenced in Saudi Arabia to a public beheading after a schoolyard brawl that led to the death of a student. (Canadian Press)

Family and friends had hoped to change the sentence through the appeal process.  

But a spokesman for the family, Mahmoud Al-Ken, said Kohail's lawyer was ejected from the courtroom in Jidda after the judges read the appeal form he had submitted.

Al-Ken said the judges also threatened to revoke the lawyer's licence.

Kohail's younger brother Sultan, 17, was convicted of similar charges after the schoolyard brawl, and family members fear he will also receive the death penalty at his sentencing in early April.

Last Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's department released a statement saying the minister brought up the case while meeting with the head of Saudi Arabia's general intelligence service, Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.

"I reiterated the Canadian government's position that a review of the decision made by the Saudi judiciary be carried out with a view to ensuring a full and fair hearing," Day said in a statement.

"We urge Saudi authorities to overturn the death sentence."

Al-Ken said on Thursday that Day had met the wrong people, and should have asked to see someone higher up.

Liberal Opposition critic Dan McTeague had said on Wednesday that Day should have met with his direct counterpart in Riyadh, rather than his deputy, as well as with the Saudi justice minister, instead of that country's intelligence chief.

"It seems to me that he met the assistant minister, who is not his equivalent," said McTeague.

"Not only did he not meet with his ministerial equivalent, quite apart from that, the person he raised this with has nothing to do with the [Kohail] case."