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US couple jailed in Qatar

A US couple whose adopted daughter died while they were living in Qatar have been jailed for three years for causing her death.

A Qatari court has condemned a US couple to three years in prison for causing the death of their adopted eight-year-old daughter.

Matthew and Grace Huang were arrested in January 2013 after their daughter Gloria, who was originally adopted from Ghana, died.

They were accused of starving Gloria and denying her water for four days until her death so they could sell her organs.

The couple were also ordered to pay a fine of 15,000 riyals $A4,458.22 each and will be deported after serving their sentence.

But reading the verdict on Thursday, the judge did not specify the exact charges for which the Huangs were sentenced.

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They have two weeks to appeal.

"We have just been wrongfully convicted and we feel as if we are being kidnapped by the Qatar judicial system," Matthew Huang said in a statement read to reporters outside the court.

"This verdict is wrong and appears to be nothing more than an effort to save face," he said.

"We are calling on United States President (Barack) Obama to call the head of state in Qatar and explain to him why American families adopt high-needs children," said Huang.

He said the ruling must be "overturned immediately and we should be allowed to go home."

The "Free Grace and Matt" website said Gloria had had "an eating disorder, a legacy of her impoverished childhood in Ghana, in which she would sometimes fast, binge-eat or steal food".

The family's supporters maintain Qatari authorities misunderstood the Huangs' situation and found it suspicious.

The Huangs moved to Qatar in 2012 for Matthew, an engineer, to work on infrastructure projects linked to the 2022 football World Cup.

They deny they had any intention of selling Gloria's organs.


2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP



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