Lawyers hope Karabus will be home this week

PROFESSOR Cyril Karabus could be on his way home tomorrow.

His legal team are meeting United Arab Emirates (UAE) prosecutors today to request his passport and the written appeal court judgment.

The two documents, as well as permission to leave Abu Dhabi, are the last hurdles in Karabus's eight-month ordeal since his arrest last year in connection with the death of a young cancer patient in 2003.

Diplomatic sources said that they had been "given all assurances that he is coming home".

The Abu Dhabi Appeal Court threw out the prosecution case on Thursday and upheld a lower court's decision that found Karabus not guilty of the girl's death.

Prosecutors are now left with one more option: to approach the Court of Cassation, which is the highest court in the UAE.

However, the court hears disputes only on matters of law and an appeal to it should not affect Karabus's case.

His lawyer, Michael Bagraim, said it was very rare for prosecutors to approach the Court of Cassation.

"It's like our Constitutional Court ... where you interpret what the law actually means, as opposed to the facts of the case. When they go to the Court of Cassation, it means they are trying to change the interpretation of their own law. This has little to do with Professor Karabus, but more to do with how they think the judges interpret their own law," said Bagraim.

The 78-year-old's return home to South Africa will also mark an end to the multi-pronged strategy involving pressure by the South African government, the business community and civil society.

Pretoria went as far as issuing a démarche against the UAE's ambassador in January this year. That was after correspondence from International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to her counterpart raising South Africa's concern about the case did not receive attention.

A démarche is a diplomatic protest by a country against the actions of a foreign government.

Nkoana-Mashabane's deputy, Marius Fransman, was also tasked to become directly involved in the case, which included a visit to the UAE last month.

Said Fransman: "We were always convinced of Karabus's innocence, hence we went as far as we did in this case, and we thank the Karabus family and his legal team for ensuring that we worked together. We also thank the Crown Prince [of Dubai]."

Bagraim said the legal team would meet prosecutors today to finalise the matter.

"[Karabus's] passport is still in the hands of the Department of Justice in Abu Dhabi. We are hoping to get permission ... and we expect an answer from the prosecution. "

He said that they hoped to get permission for Karabus to leave once they had his passport and the appeal court judgment. He praised the Abu Dhabi court system for expediting the case and finalising the appeal.