Egypt jails couples for trying to illegally adopt children
US couples face two years in prison for ‘child trafficking’
Two American couples have been jailed in Egypt for two years for trying to illegally adopt children.
Iris Botros and husband Louis Andros had been offered orphaned twins by a Coptic Christian church in Cairo. When they applied to take the children out of the country they were arrested for child trafficking.
A second couple, Susan Hagoulf and husband Medhat Metyas, were also sentenced for trying to adopt a male toddler.
The cases highlight the country’s complicated adoption system. In Egypt, the adopting couple must be Egyptian, the name of the child can’t be changed and the children shouldn’t be removed from the country.
Yet these customs are less clear in the Coptic minority.
The church orphanage in Cairo supplied forged documents claiming that Iris had given birth to the twins. Iris and her husband also donated £2,700 to the orphanage.
Three workers from the orphanage were jailed for 5 years.
Authors
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