A California couple living in Qatar, located off the coast of Saudi Arabia are facing possible execution for allegedly starving their daughter to death. The pair were released on bail today after almost a year in jail.
The court imposed a travel ban that prevents them from returning to the U.S.
The couple has been imprisoned since January after their 8-year-old adopted daughter Gloria died, they say, from unknown complications from a childhood eating disorder. But the Qatari authorities charged them with forced starvation and intent to murder. The police accuse the Huangs of trafficking Gloria and her brothers to harvest their organs.
The Huangs moved to Qatar in 2012 so Matthew Huang could work as an engineer on two major infrastructure projects associated with improvements for the 2022 World Cup, according to a narrative of the case posted on the family’s website, . https://www.freemattandgrace.com
The Huangs, who are Asian-American, accuse the Qatari authorities of faulty evidence and cultural ignorance, failing to understand how or why they would have three children from Africa. The California Innocence Project is housed at the San Diego-based California Western School of Law says they are wrongly accused and are working on the family’s behalf.
In addition to Gloria, the Huangs have two adopted boys – one from Ghana, the other from Uganda – forming a bi-racial family rarely seen in oil-rich Qatar which is void of much diversity (except for Asian workers who go to work as laborers) and where adoptions are scarce.
It’s almost inexplicable and indefensible to release the parents, even if on bail and on strict travel restrictions, if the courts think these two are enough of a threat to society to possibly recommend the death penalty.
