Another twist after court clears couple
Americans accused of endangering daughter stopped at airport in Qatar
An American couple cleared Sunday by a Qatari appeals court of wrongdoing in the death of their 8-year-old adopted daughter has been barred from leaving the Middle Eastern country just hours after they were told they were free to go.
Matthew and Grace Huang were stopped from exiting the conservative Gulf nation and had their passports confiscated as they tried to pass through airport immigration control in the capital, Doha, said family representative Eric Volz, who is travelling with them. The unexpected delay adds a new twist to a closely watched legal saga over the death of their adopted daughter, Gloria.
The Los Angeles couple had been banned from leaving the energyrich OPEC nation while their case made its way through the courts, but the appeals court ruled Sunday they were free to leave after the presiding judge overturned a child endangerment conviction against them.
The Huangs spent months behind bars before being let out on their own recognizance last November. They were convicted in March of this year of child endangerment and sentenced to three years in prison but they were al- lowed to remain free pending their appeal.
A doctor in Qatar who conducted Gloria’s autopsy determined that dehydration and wasting disease were the cause of death. The Huangs have maintained their innocence and say Gloria suffered from medical problems complicated by unusual eating habits that included periods of binging and self-starvation. Prosecutors alleged she died after being denied food and locked in her room.
The Huangs have two other African-born adopted children.
“It has been a long and emotional trial for me and my family, and Grace and I want to go home and be reunited with our sons,” Matthew Huang said shortly after the ruling.
Volz said officials informed the couple that a new appeal has been filed in their case and that they were not allowed to leave.
Gloria, born in Ghana, was severely malnourished when she was younger and would at times refuse to eat for several days before binge eating or getting food from unusual places, such as garbage cans or from strangers, according to a report by Janice Ophoven, a pediatric forensic psychologist who reviewed the case for the family.
The report noted that such unhealthy anorexic eating patterns are not uncommon in children adopted from impoverished backgrounds.