Spain Judge Mulls Bail For ill British Boy's Parents

Madrid: A Spanish judge on Wednesday will question the parents arrested for taking their seriously ill son out of hospital in England and decide whether to bail them, a court source said.

Five-year-old Ashya King's parents were arrested in Spain under a European arrest warrant for taking him out of hospital after disagreeing with doctors over his cancer treatment.

Brett King, 51, and his wife Naghemeh King, 45, have declined to be extradited to Britain.

Public sympathy there has grown for the couple, who are seeking alternative treatment for Ashya.

British prosecutors suspect them of "cruelty" for defying doctors by taking Ashya out of hospital, but have yet to decide if the Kings should face charges.

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Judge Ismael Moreno at Spain's National Court initially remanded the parents in custody and has summoned them at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) on Wednesday, the court source told AFP.

The judge will "decide whether to send them to prison or release them until the court rules on their extradition".

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The judge also ordered an urgent medical report into Ashya's condition.

"The medical reports from the hospital in Malaga and all the documentation have now arrived" on the judge's desk, said the source, who asked not to be named.

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Ashya recently underwent surgery for a brain tumour and requires special feeding equipment.

After taking him from hospital in Southampton, southern England, his parents were detained near Malaga in the south of Spain on Saturday. Ashya has been hospitalised in the region.

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The couple's lawyer Juan Isidro Fernandez Diaz said the family was hoping to sell their apartment in Malaga to raise funds for proton beam therapy, an alternative to radiotherapy treatment.