South African doctor Cyril Karabus is expected to arrive in the country next week, his lawyer said.
|||Johannesburg - South African doctor Cyril Karabus is expected to arrive in the country next week, his lawyer said on Friday.
“Developments are that authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have decided not to exercise their second appeal against him. We expect that he will have his passport by this weekend,” said Karabus's lawyer Michael Bagraim.
“He should be in the country on Wednesday morning.”
The 78-year-old paediatric oncologist 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 March 21 and won an appeal, but his return to South Africa was delayed because he was on the UAE's database as a fugitive from justice.
His bail money of R250 000 was returned to him on Monday, but he still had to wait for his passport from Abu Dhabi prison authorities.
On Thursday, the international relations department called on the UAE government to allow Karabus to return home.
Spokesman Clayson Monyela said it had been confirmed that Abu Dhabi prison authorities were in possession of Karabus's passport and “must first clear his name from a database before his passport can be returned”.
Bagraim said Karabus “remained strong”.
“He is in a much better frame of mind and is being strong.”
Karabus has also received support from the SA Islamic Medical Association, which on Friday called for his immediate release to travel to South Africa, Bagraim said. - Sapa