Free, but no thanks to SA

Retired paediatric oncologist Cyril Karabus does not know exactly what led to his release after months in detention in Abu Dhabi, but he certainly isn't thanking the South African government for any help.

Yesterday Karabus spoke about his nine months facing manslaughter charges in the UAE.

He was arrested on his arrival in the UAE in August last year and accused of murdering a three-year-old he treated for leukemia in 2002 - a charge he had been tried for in absentia.

Even though medical records absolved him of any wrongdoing, Karabus spent two months in jail and seven months under house arrest in a country he called a "dictatorship that has no feeling for people who are not Emiratis".

Karabus, who started the blood and cancer units at the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town, looks back on his career with "satisfaction".

"But my pension after 33 years is damn miserable."

It was this that led to him working as a locum in the Emirates and elsewhere after his retirement.

After R1-million spent on legal expenses in the UAE, the 78-year-old is still doing stints in Cape Town hospitals.

Karabus blames the Emirates airline for being complicit in his arrest but his lawyers think suing the airline would "not be worth it".

When he was boarding the plane from Canada to Dubai, Emirates staff told him that a security alert had been registered against his passport.

But when he questioned them, they said everything was "fine".

"They lied."

While in prison, Karabus was taken to court with his wrists and ankles shackled.

He said he was treated reasonably well in prison.

He recalled that, after his first two days, an Afrikaans-speaking man from the embassy visited him [to tell him why he had been arrested] but had to shout his message through a plastic door.

"Arabs are noisy and I couldn't hear what he was saying.

"[So] we out-shouted the Arabs in Afrikaans," he said, and "eventually they told us to keep quiet".

Karabus said the South African embassy staff had been very helpful, as was the driver who took him to his many court appearances.

But he said the South African government did little to help him.

Only after six months did the government send Marius Fransman, the deputy minister of international relations, to speak to UAE officials.

When Karabus arrived back in South Africa in May, to a huge reception, "Fransman was swanning around as if it were all his work".

Karabus believes that it was Iqbal Survé, owner of the Independent newspaper group, who won his release.

"He visited me, called the crown prince and three days later I was acquitted."