Karabus back in court

Medical doctor Cyril Karabus is expected back in an Abu Dhabi courtroom in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

 

Karabus, 78, has been detained in the UAE since August 18 last year after being sentenced in absentia for the death of a Yemeni girl he treated for leukaemia in 2002. He was acquitted on the charge on March 21, but was not allowed to leave the country as the prosecutor appealed the court decision.

 

Deputy international relations minister Marius Fransman told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday that the South African government urged the UAE to withdraw the appeal against Karabus' release.   "We've made a passionate plea that -- based on the realities, based on the technical and medical review processes of this case -- that it's in the best interest of relations between ourselves and the UAE... "

 

Fransman said the South African people and Karabus's family had done much work for his safe return."We are hopeful, therefore, that tomorrow's [Tuesday's] hearing will not culminate in a further postponement," he said. "It is now really time for the professor to be reunited with his family. The South African government trusts that justice will prevail..."