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| Qatari Court Rejects U.S. Couple’s Request to Return Home | Qatari Court Rejects U.S. Couple’s Request to Return Home |
| (7 months later) | |
| DOHA, Qatar — An American couple standing trial on charges they starved their 8-year-old adopted African daughter to death in Qatar last year were dealt a setback on Wednesday when a court denied their request for permission to visit their two other adopted children, who are in the United States. | |
| The court, which had allowed the couple to leave prison last November but ordered them to remain in Qatar pending the outcome of their trial, said the verdict would be announced on March 27. | The court, which had allowed the couple to leave prison last November but ordered them to remain in Qatar pending the outcome of their trial, said the verdict would be announced on March 27. |
| The case against the couple, Matthew and Grace Huang of Los Angeles, has been criticized by legal rights groups as an example of what they describe as an arbitrary and outdated justice system in Qatar, the affluent Persian Gulf emirate that is contending with a rapid population increase, mostly foreign workers. The Huangs were in Qatar because Mr. Huang, an engineer, had been working on a construction project there. | The case against the couple, Matthew and Grace Huang of Los Angeles, has been criticized by legal rights groups as an example of what they describe as an arbitrary and outdated justice system in Qatar, the affluent Persian Gulf emirate that is contending with a rapid population increase, mostly foreign workers. The Huangs were in Qatar because Mr. Huang, an engineer, had been working on a construction project there. |
| The police and prosecutors who pressed the charges against them in January 2013 asserted that the Huangs had to have been child traffickers because their daughter, Gloria, was from Ghana. Both adoption and interracial families are anomalies in Qatar. | The police and prosecutors who pressed the charges against them in January 2013 asserted that the Huangs had to have been child traffickers because their daughter, Gloria, was from Ghana. Both adoption and interracial families are anomalies in Qatar. |
| The remaining two children, both younger boys, were also adopted from Africa. They have been living with the Huangs’ relatives in the United States while the parents, who have asserted their innocence, are on trial here. | The remaining two children, both younger boys, were also adopted from Africa. They have been living with the Huangs’ relatives in the United States while the parents, who have asserted their innocence, are on trial here. |
| At the hearing on Wednesday, where final arguments were heard, the prosecution asserted that the Huangs were guilty because they had not sought help when it became clear that Gloria had not eaten for four days. | At the hearing on Wednesday, where final arguments were heard, the prosecution asserted that the Huangs were guilty because they had not sought help when it became clear that Gloria had not eaten for four days. |
| Defense lawyers countered that the child had a longstanding eating disorder, a legacy of her life of poverty in Ghana before she was adopted. They also pointed to evidence in the prosecution’s medical report that she had not died of starvation. | Defense lawyers countered that the child had a longstanding eating disorder, a legacy of her life of poverty in Ghana before she was adopted. They also pointed to evidence in the prosecution’s medical report that she had not died of starvation. |
| Seeking permission for the Huangs to return home immediately, the defense also presented a doctor’s report that the two other children had been suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and that reuniting the family would “provide the best possible solution for the children.” | Seeking permission for the Huangs to return home immediately, the defense also presented a doctor’s report that the two other children had been suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and that reuniting the family would “provide the best possible solution for the children.” |
| The judge overseeing the case provided no explanation for rejecting the couple’s plea to return home. But the decision was not considered a total surprise, particularly because the Huangs, if found guilty, would have no incentive to return to Qatar. | The judge overseeing the case provided no explanation for rejecting the couple’s plea to return home. But the decision was not considered a total surprise, particularly because the Huangs, if found guilty, would have no incentive to return to Qatar. |
| Still, the Huangs did not hide their disappointment in the latest chapter of what they have described as a nightmarish legal odyssey. | Still, the Huangs did not hide their disappointment in the latest chapter of what they have described as a nightmarish legal odyssey. |
| “This court has taken more than a year of our lives, and the process has only made it worse,” Mr. Huang told reporters after the hearing. “In the midst of our innocence, we feel that we have been kidnapped. And we just want to go home.” | “This court has taken more than a year of our lives, and the process has only made it worse,” Mr. Huang told reporters after the hearing. “In the midst of our innocence, we feel that we have been kidnapped. And we just want to go home.” |
| The Huangs have not been totally cut off from their children. Eric Volz, the managing director of the David House Agency, a Los Angeles-based group that advises Americans entangled in legal problems abroad and has been helping the Huangs, said Ms. Huang had been educating them via Skype. | The Huangs have not been totally cut off from their children. Eric Volz, the managing director of the David House Agency, a Los Angeles-based group that advises Americans entangled in legal problems abroad and has been helping the Huangs, said Ms. Huang had been educating them via Skype. |
| She spends “four hours of each day home-schooling her sons,” Mr. Volz said. | She spends “four hours of each day home-schooling her sons,” Mr. Volz said. |