September 2012 Family handout picture of Prof Cyril Karabus currently in jail in Dubai. He was tried and sentenced in abstentia, without knowing anything about it.

Cape Town - The family of the Cape Town doctor jailed in the Middle East is “delighted” at his being granted bail on Thursday.

Emeritus Associate Professor Cyril Karabus, 77, was granted bail in an Abu Dhabi court on Thursday after his fifth application.

His son, Michael, said from Cape Town: “We’re delighted, it’s fantastic news.”

He explained: “My father was granted bail subject to surrender of his passport, which was confiscated when he was originally arrested, and the payment of R240 000 to the court, which will be held as bond.

“We transferred the money today, but it will take 36-48 hours to reflect in our attorneys’ account there. As soon as it has, they will present it to the court and we hope my father will be released on the same day.” He hoped this would be Sunday.

His father, a specialist paediatric oncologist, will have been behind bars for nine weeks since his arrest on charges of culpable homicide, relating to the death of a girl he had treated for leukemia in 2002 while working in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

“He will be free to move around within the UAE and we have arranged accommodation for him.”

The family was also delighted with further orders of the court - specifically that the hospital had to give Karabus’s lawyers access to the original patient’s file.

The court also ordered that an independent medical tribunal be established to review the file.

“All the evidence that we need is in that file, so we’re very happy that the judge has decided that the file is relevant to the case,” Karabus said.

Their lawyers would now push for the medical investigation to take place as soon as possible, hopefully before his father’s next court appearance on November 20.

Cape Argus