UK deputy leader criticizes tumor-boy case
By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press
Sep 2, 2014 9:18 AM CDT
This is a an undated handout file photo issued by Hampshire Police on Monday Sept. 1, 2014 of Ashya King, who has a brain tumour and was taken by his parents from hospital without the consent of his doctors. Critically-ill 5-year-old boy Ashya King driven to Spain by his parents, Brett and Naghemeh,...   (Associated Press)

LONDON (AP) — Britain's prime minister waded Tuesday into the raging argument as to whether it was appropriate to throw the full weight of the law at a British couple who took their 5-year-old son to Spain in hopes of getting a new type of radiation therapy for his brain tumor.

Prime Minister David Cameron told the radio station LBC that the plight of 5-year-old Ashya King reminded him of his late son Ivan, who suffered from cerebral palsy and epilepsy. The prime minister recalled having his own son sit on his lap and feeding him through a tube.

"I just hope there'll be an outbreak of common sense — and a rapid outbreak of common sense — so that the family can be re-united with this young boy and the best treatment can be given to him, either in the United Kingdom or elsewhere," he said.

Although Cameron said it was up police and prosecutors to decide how to proceed, his remarks will heap pressure on the Crown Prosecution Service to drop its case against Brett and Naghemeh King.

The couple took Ashya out of Southampton General Hospital last week and traveled to Spain, where they planned to sell a property to pay at least $33,000 for proton beam radiation therapy in the Czech Republic or the U.S. They were arrested on a British warrant and are fighting extradition.

A hearing was set for Tuesday afternoon at the High Court.

Spanish judge Ismael Moreno on Tuesday ordered the parents to appear in a closed-door court session Wednesday for his ruling on whether they can be released during extradition proceedings, said a court spokesman on condition of anonymity because of court rules preventing him from being named.

The Southampton hospital has said more conventional methods of treatment have a very high chance of succeeding for the boy.

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Associated Press Writer Jorge Sainz contributed to this report.

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