There are two cases, not connected, that involve couples who allegedly forged birth certificates and paid an orphanage to finalize child adoptions.

 

In December of last year, Suzan Hagoulf, a U.S. citizen of Egyptian origin, and her Egyptian husband, Medhat Metyas, tried to circumvent murky adoption laws by forging birth certificates with a Coptic Christian orphanage.  In a similar story, Louis Andros, an American, and his wife Iris Botros, a dual Egyptian-American citizen, were charged with forgery and human trafficking after the couple adopted three year-old twins from the same Coptic Christian orphanage. They paid $4,600 in donations to the orphanage, which Egyptian authorities say constitutes "trafficking." The couples could face up to seven years in prison.

 

Brig. General Gamal Abdel-Aal led the police investigation of the couples and told the court that they were taking part in a “criminal mob” that supported child trafficking. There is no legal mechanism for adoption in Egypt. Muslims fall under Sharia Law, which prohibits adoption in order to maintain clear bloodlines and ensure patrimony and inheritance. The Christian minority that does not fall under Sharia Law must sift through complex bureaucratic rules and paperwork in order to adopt. Often, Christians insist that Muslims are fearful adoption would provide couples with the opportunity to convert children into Christianity.

 

Both couples deny the charges and are being represented by Naguib Gobraiel, who hopes to promote a new law that would allow Christians to adopt children.

 -Jacquelyn Lickness

 

Egypt Tries American Adoption Bid Couple (by Carwa Awad, Al Arabiya News Channel)

Egypt: American Couples on Trial for Adoption (by Maggie Michael, Associated Press)

US Couple Who Wanted to Adoptt on Trial in Egypt (by Anna Johnson and Maggie Michael, Associated Press)

Egypt Lawyer Calls for Christian Adoption Law (by Charles Boyd, Christian Today)