Qatar sentences US couple to 3 years in prison

Qatar sentences US couple to 3 years in prison



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"The case raised questions about possible cultural misunderstandings in a conservative Muslim country where Western-style adoptions and cross-cultural families are relatively rare.

On Wednesday, the State Department expressed concern that not all of the evidence had been weighed by the court. It also said it had raised the case with Qatari officials on multiple occasions.

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The prosecution demanded the death penalty, alleging that the couple had denied food to Gloria and said she was locked in her room at night. The girl was pronounced dead when the Huangs took her to the hospital in January 2013.

The Huangs say their adopted daughter, who was born in Ghana, died of medical problems complicated by unusual eating habits that included periods of binging and self-starvation. Defense witnesses have testified that the girl appeared healthy and active just days before her death.

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The Huangs, of Asian descent, have two other African-born adopted children who left Qatar during the trial to live with relatives in the U.S.

Matthew Huang described the allegations as "ridiculous" and called on President Barack Obama to explain to the ruler of Qatar "why American families adopt high-need children."

Gloria, who was severely malnourished in early childhood, would periodically refuse food for several days and then binge eat or get food from bizarre sources, such as garbage cans or from strangers — a behavior her parents traced to her impoverished upbringing and were trying to address.

She would also try to leave the house at night in search of food and pick through the medicine cabinet on late-night binges, according to a report prepared last year in the U.S. by Janice Ophoven, a pediatric forensic pathologist who reviewed the case for the family.

When Gloria died, she was in an anorexic episode and had not eaten in as many as four days, Ophoven wrote in her report last year.

Eric Volz, managing director of the David House Agency, which is coordinating legal and publicity efforts for the family, told reporters on Thursday that the appeal process takes anywhere from six months to one year.

He said the prosecutor's case has "zero evidence" and that it was not clear if the Huangs will be imprisoned pending appeal.

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