Chinese Couple Detained in Qatar on Daughter's Death

A Chinese American couple Matthew and Grace Huang from southern California were detained in Qatar on suspicious death of their adopted daughter Gloria.

According to Huangs's defense team, 8 year old Gloria died suddenly on unknown reasons. At the time, she had not been eating anything for 4 days. The Huangs alleged that it was a habitual behavior formed when the girl was in an orphanage in Ghana before she was adopted in 2009. Gloria had showed a pattern of not eating for days, then suddenly start sensational binge eating with anything she could find, often in trash cans or from strangers' hands.

The Huangs have all of their 3 children adopted from Africa. Gloria is the middle one, between two brothers. The Huangs had been jailed for 6 months, and their murder with intent trial just began. Qatari police believed Gloria was starved to death. They also believe the Huangs have been in human trafficking business and possible human organ harvesting.

The defense team in the US prepared documents with medical proof that Gloria's rather bizarre behavior was not uncommon, and that it was unlikely that she died of starvation.

For Chinese, what is intriguing is the rationale given by the Qatari prosecutors behind the charge. Law enforcement officers raised questions about why the Huangs would adopt children who were not "good looking" and who did not share their "hereditary traits". Police suspected the Huangs must have hidden evil agenda on these children, especially since they did not send them to schools. ped

Another parent would not have allowed their children not eating for days, not even once. However, we would not second guess Huang's thoughts and their devotion to God as well as their believing in power of supreme blessing.

Although the defense team solicited most authoritative testimonies from famous pediatricians and built their defense on scientific fact findings, it will be a difficult task to challenge opposing common senses.