ABU DHABI // A doctor jailed in the UAE after being convicted in absentia of manslaughter will take legal action against his former employers, InterHealth Canada.
Dr Cyril Karabus, a paediatric haematologist and oncologist, was in transit through Dubai airport last August when he was arrested and taken to Abu Dhabi.
The South African specialist had been convicted in his absence over the death of a three-year-old Yemeni girl, Sara Al Ajaily, while he was working as a locum at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in 2002.
He said he was seeking damages of Dh750,000 from the company that had employed him in 2002, InterHealth Canada, for allegedly not informing him of the conviction.
"I do feel like they failed in a duty of care. I worked for them, they presumably knew I was having this problem and never bothered to inform me about it," said Dr Karabus, who spent his 78th birthday in the capital while waiting for his case to be heard. "When I arrived back in Dubai totally unaware, I got arrested and spent the next nine months in the emirates."
He said he had hired a lawyer in Canada who was pursuing the case. InterHealth Canada, which has offices in Dubai, London and Toronto, was unavailable for comment.
mcroucher@thenational.ae
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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Opening Rugby Championship fixtures:Games can be watched on OSN Sports
Saturday: Australia v New Zealand, Sydney, 1pm (UAE)
Sunday: South Africa v Argentina, Port Elizabeth, 11pm (UAE)
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