U.S. couple leaves Qatar, cleared of charges
Pair cleared in adopted daughter’s death
DOHA, Qatar – An American couple left the Gulf nation of Qatar on Wednesday after being cleared of charges in their adopted 8-year-old daughter’s death, ending a nearly two-year legal saga they contend was rooted in confusion over cross-cultural adoption.
The Los Angeles couple, Matthew and Grace Huang, caught international attention after they were arrested in January 2013 on murder charges following the death of their African-born daughter Gloria.
The Huangs, who are of Asian descent, had adopted Gloria in Ghana when she was 4 years old, and are the parents of two other African-born adopted boys.
Throughout the case, the family’s representative continuously expressed concern that there were cultural misunderstandings underpinning the charges against the Huangs in a nation where Western-style adoptions and cross-cultural families are relatively rare.
An initial police report raised questions about why the Huangs would adopt children who did not share their “hereditary traits.” And prosecutors also raised suspicions that the children were part of a human-trafficking operation or were “bought” for organ harvesting, the family’s website said.
The case drew Washington’s involvement, with U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Dana Shell Smith accompanying the Huangs on Wednesday at Doha’s Hamad International Airport to ensure they cleared passport control and reached their departure gate. The Huang’s lawyer also was present.
“We feel relieved. We feel gratitude to the legal system in the state of Qatar, which after some time worked as a good legal system should,” Smith said after ensuring the couple made it to their departure gate.
The slow-moving case became an irritant in otherwise close relations between the U.S. and Qatar, a key ally that hosts an important U.S. military air base that is involved in airstrikes against the Islamic State group.
After a Qatari appeals court overturned charges of wrongdoing against the couple on Sunday and the judge told them they were free to go, the Huangs were stopped at the airport and had their passports confiscated as they tried to pass through airport immigration control later that day.