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Egypt tries US pair who wanted to adopt

A US couple, Iris Botros and Louis Andros, have gone on trial in Egypt charged with child trafficking after trying to adopt newborn twins. The couple, who own a Greek restaurant in North Carolina, tried for years to have a child and attempted to adopt in the US where they married 15 years ago.

But the age of Mr Andros, 70, and other factors stood in their way.

A Cairo orphanage is alleged to have given them the twins, forging papers showing Iris Botros to be the mother.

The couple took the babies, named Victoria and Alexander, from the Coptic Christian orphanage back to a temporary home in Cairo while they tried to get American passports for them.

But a US Embassy employee became suspicious and, faced with a DNA test, Ms Botros finally admitted she was not the biological mother.

In the tangle of Egypt's complicated legal system even lawyers are unsure whether adoption in this country is legal or not, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports from Cairo.

Islamic law forbids it but the law is less clear when it comes to the Coptic Christian minority.

Adoptions within the Christian community do take place but they usually involves bribes and forgeries.

In this case, the court heard that a Coptic orphanage in Cairo had supplied forged documents that Iris Botros had given birth to twins.

In turn, the couple donated $4,500 to the orphanage.

"She wanted to adopt children. She came to Egypt where there are so many poor and orphans," said Iman Faltass, Botros' aunt, who also lives in Durham. "I lived in Egypt until college and I knew people who adopted kids. It was simple and not illegal."

The two could face up to seven years in prison if convicted. In their first court session in March, Botros and Andros appeared in a metal cage in the courtroom—as defendants in Egyptian courts are always held during hearings—and pleaded not guilty. They are to appear for a second session on Saturday.

Several doctors and orphanage administrators have also been charged. A second couple—Suzan Hagoulf, an American of Egyptian origin, and her Egyptian husband Medhat Metyas, who have been living in Egypt since 2003—were also arrested in December.

Hagoulf and Metyas adopted a newborn from the same orphanage almost a year ago, according to their lawyer, Naguib Gibrail. When they wanted to visit the U.S. in late 2008, they applied at the U.S. Embassy, where officials asked for a DNA test on the child. The couple were reluctant to present one, and the embassy notified Egyptian police, Gibrail said.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo would not comment on the case. According to the State Department, few Egyptian children are adopted by American citizens. In fiscal year 2008, the U.S. issued two Egyptian orphans immigrant visas, which must be obtained for internationally adopted children to enter the United States, according U.S. government figures.

Given that most adoptions are clandestine, it was not possible to get figures on children adopted by citizens from other countries or adopted domestically within Egypt.

Some speculate that Egypt may be using the case to show the world it is fighting human trafficking. The U.S. and Israel have criticized Egypt in recent years for not doing enough to stop the flow of African migrants to Israel in search of jobs and a better life. The arrests came soon after Egypt's First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak, launched a highly publicized campaign against human trafficking.

Egyptian officials did not respond to several requests by the AP to be interviewed. Egypt's minister of family and population, Moushira Khatab, told parliament this spring that the country should reconsider its laws pertaining to orphans and adoption. But she didn't elaborate.

Adoption experts said the case highlights the importance of being well-informed and working with governments and reputable agencies to make sure laws and social norms are followed.

"Every country whether we like it or not, whether it's good or not, whether it's healthy or not, every country has the right to make its own laws and if you are in that country, you are obligated to follow those laws," said Adam Pertman, executive director of the New York-based Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, an advocacy group that researches ways to improve adoption policies. (mercurynews, AP, BBC)

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