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Qatar Again Bars U.S. Couple Cleared in Daughter's Death From Leaving

Qatar still won't let Matthew and Grace Huang of Los Angeles leave even though a judge dismissed their conviction in their daughter's death.
Image: QATAR-US-TRIAL
Matthew and Grace Huang in Doha, Qatar, after they were acquitted Sunday of parental neglect leading to the death of their daughter.VICTORIA BAUX / AFP - Getty Images

The Qatari government still won't let a U.S. couple leave the country even though an appeals judge dismissed their conviction in their daughter's death and said they were free to go, a family representative said Monday.

Matthew and Grace Huang of Los Angeles were sentenced to three years in prison in March for child endangerment after the January 2013 starvation death of their adopted daughter, Gloria, who they said died from complications of an eating disorder. The judge overturned the ruling Sunday, but the Huangs were turned back from the airport when they tried to head home.

Monday, it happened again, even though "all the proper paperwork has been filed to allow them to leave Qatar," Eric Volz, a spokesman for the family, said in a statement. Volz called on President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and the U.S. ambassador to Qatar to personally intervene with Sheik Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, to win freedom for "these two innocent American citizens."

IMAGE: Matthew and Grace Huang
Matthew and Grace Huang in Doha, Qatar, after they were acquitted Sunday of parental neglect leading to the death of their daughter.AFP - Getty Images

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