US officials asking Qatar to allow couple to leave country

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – US officials have been in contact with Qatar’s government to ask them to allow a Los Angeles couple to return home after an appeals court threw out convictions linked to the death of their African-born adopted daughter, a State Department spokeswoman said yesterday.

A Qatari appeals court overturned the convictions of Matthew and Grace Huang on Sunday over the death of their 8-year-old daughter, Gloria, after finding that a lower court had made errors in the high-profile case.

But the US couple’s passports were seized at the Doha airport as they sought to leave the Gulf Arab state, and they were told a new arrest warrant had been issued, a family spokesman said.