US couple cleared by appeals court leave Qatar

US ambassador to Qatar Dana Shell Smith sits next to Grace and Matthew Huang at Hamad International Airport on Wednesday prior to their departure.

AFP/Doha

A US couple flew out of Doha on Wednesday after a three-day holdup since a Qatari appeals court cleared them of wrongdoing in their adopted daughter's death.

"Wheels are up," their representative Eric Volz, who is accompanying Matthew and Grace Huang on the plane, said on Twitter, posting a picture of the couple smiling on the aircraft.

American ambassador to Qatar Dana Shell Smith, who had escorted them through immigration, also tweeted: "Matt and Grace Huang are wheels up from Qatar. Emotional. These are the moments all diplomats live for."

Their flight was en route for Los Angeles.

A Doha appeals court on Sunday acquitted the pair of parental neglect in the death of eight-year-old Gloria, who had been adopted from an orphanage in Ghana, and said they were free to leave.

But they were prevented from doing so when they arrived at the airport later that day.

In a statement late on Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US embassy in Doha had been told that "no further appeal will be filed" and that the Huangs will finally be permitted to go.

"The US applauds this decision, and we look forward to seeing the Huangs reunited with their children at home."

The pair, who are of Asian descent, were arrested in January 2013.

They were released in November 2013 pending an appeal, but the court at the time denied their request to leave Qatar to join their other two adopted children in the US.

The Huangs moved to Qatar in 2012.