South African doctor Cyril Karabus gives a press conference after his arrival at Cape Town airport on May 17, 2013. By Rodger Bosch (AFP)
CAPE TOWN (AFP) - A South African doctor arrived home on Friday nine months after he was detained in the United Arab Emirates over the death of a cancer patient he treated more than a decade ago.Cyril Karabus, a paediatric oncologist, was detained last August while in transit through Dubai after having been sentenced in absentia in 2003 for the death of a three-year-old leukaemia patient while briefly working in Abu Dhabi.In March, he was acquitted of manslaughter and forgery relating to the case, and won a subsequent appeal by UAE prosecutors against the acquittal.The 78-year-old was welcomed by his family and South Africa's deputy foreign minister to great festivities as a band played and a crowd cheered in the international arrivals hall at Cape Town International Airport.Supporters dressed in "Welcome home Cyril Karabus" t-shirts held balloons and posters.Amid the saga to have Karabus freed, which required the involvement of South African authorities, the World Medical Association issued a cautionary advisory notice to doctors thinking of working in the UAE.Giving thanks for the support he received, Karabus said after he landed that "it's nice to be home"."I'm very pleased that it's all over," he said."It was dreadful -- the ups and downs -- when you thought things were going well and then a day or two later, suddenly something happened and they were going down again.
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