‘Wheels are up’: US couple cleared in daughter’s death leave Qatar

The representative of Matthew and Grace Huang, who accompanied on the plane, posting a picture of the couple smiling on the aircraft.

Grace and Matthew Huang, centre and right, walking with US ambassador to Qatar, Dana Shell Smith, left, at the Hamad International Airport in Doha on December 3, 2014. The couple who were cleared of cShow more

DOHA // A US couple cleared of wrongdoing in the death of their adopted daughter finally flew out of Qatar on Wednesday, after a three-day holdup.

“Wheels are up,” tweeted their representative Eric Volz, who accompanied Matthew and Grace Huang on the plane, and posted a picture of the couple smiling on the aircraft.

America’s ambassador to Qatar Dana Shell Smith, who had escorted them through immigration, also tweeted: “Matt and Grace Huang are wheels up from Qatar. Emotional. These are the moments all diplomats live for.”

A Doha appeals court on Sunday acquitted the pair of parental neglect in the death of eight-year-old Gloria, who had been adopted from an orphanage in Ghana, and said they were free to leave.

But they were prevented from doing so when they arrived at the airport later that day.

In a statement late Tuesday, US secretary of state John Kerry said the US embassy in Doha had now been told that “no further appeal will be filed” and that the Huangs will finally be permitted to go.

The couple were arrested in January 2013 and initially initially accused of starving Gloria to death to sell her organs. They were later jailed for three years for parental neglect.

* Agence France-Presse