LOS ANGELES: Qatar will soon lift a travel ban that has kept a US couple from leaving the country even after their convictions were overturned in the death of their African-born adopted daughter, the US Ambassador to Qatar said yesterday.
Dana Shell Smith said on Twitter that Matthew and Grace Huang should be able to leave Qatar on Wednesday (today) once the ban was lifted, and that she expected no further prosecution appeals.
The couple had initially been charged with murder in the death of their eight-year-old daughter, Gloria, and were convicted of lesser child endangerment charges earlier this year, according to a support website for the family.
An appeals court threw out the convictions on Sunday.
When the couple sought to leave Qatar, they were stopped at the airport and their passports seized, family spokesman Eric Volz claimed.
That sparked a flurry of diplomacy as US officials worked to get the travel ban lifted so the couple can return to their country, where their two other adopted children have been living with relatives as the case continued in Qatar.
“Huangs can go tomorrow,” Smith said yesterday in a Twitter post that added that all Qatari requirements for their departure had been met.
The Huangs were arrested in January 2013 after an autopsy found that their daughter had died of dehydration and cachexia, an irreversible loss of body mass.
The couple said Gloria had been suffering from malnutrition-related diseases since they adopted her from Ghana at age 4.
A lawyer for the couple filed an application on Monday to the attorney-general’s office in Doha, requesting the travel ban be lifted, Volz said.
“All the proper paperwork has been filed and any continued delays are a cause for concern,” Volz said in a statement, adding he hoped US officials would “keep up any necessary pressure” to ensure the couple can leave Qatar today.
The couple, from Los Angeles, had moved to Qatar so Matthew, a Stanford-trained engineer, could work on a project related to the 2022 World Cup, according to supporters. Reuters
