Karabus hopeful to be back in the country by tomorrow

Can South African doctor Cyril Karabus be back in the country from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Friday morning?

 

His lawyer Michael Bagraim is hopeful that the 78-year old can be back on South African soil by the week end, after it was established that his passport is still being kept at the jail where Karabus was detained in the UAE since August. He was sentenced in absentia for the death of a Yemeni girl he treated for leukaemia in 2002. On Thursday morning, Karabus will go through the needed administrative process of retrieving the passport and necessary documentation for him to leave the UAE. If operations run smoothly he might have it back by lunchtime on Thursday and on a plane by Thursday evening. 

 

His son Michael told the Cape Argus his father waited for hours in a UAE court on Wednesday to get his passport clearance documents. "He received the documents after a five-hour wait, but when he got to the prison, where his passport is held, he was told he had the wrong paperwork," he said.

 

On April 24, the UAE lost its appeal against his earlier acquittal after an appeal judge found him, not guilty on all charges.