Algeria Doctor Sentenced to 12 years Jail for Trafficking Babies for Adoption to France

“Thirteen people, including dual nationality French-Algerians, went on trial in Algiers on Monday accused of kidnapping Algerian children and selling them for adoption in France.

The case first emerged in 2009 and the prosecution alleges the defendants kidnapped an unknown number of children and transported them to the French city of Saint-Etienne, where they were adopted for a fee.

Seven of the accused appeared in court for the start of the trial, which has been repeatedly delayed, but none of the French suspects of Algerian origin living in Saint-Etienne were present.

“There was no appropriation of children,” said Allel Boutouili, the lawyer of the main suspect, Dr Khelifa Hanouti, who has been in jail since March 2009.

“The only woman on whom the entire investigation rests has said that her twins, Ahlem and Katia, were kidnapped and sold to a couple living in France,” Boutouili told AFP.

But according to documents in his possession, the lawyer said the two girls, who were born in 1997, were adopted by a woman living in Algiers.

Dr Hanouti is accused of illegally transferring children abroad with the help of a notary, who is charged with falsifying “disclaimer documents,” signed by single mothers.

The investigation into the case was first launched after a young woman died in 2009 during an abortion at a clinic in the Algiers suburb of Ain Taya that belonged to the main suspect.

Boutouili said his client had initially been prosecuted for performing illegal abortions but this charge was finally dropped.

 

Abortion is a crime

Dr Hanouti had been convicted on the same charge in 2002, and handed a two-year jail sentence, of which he served nine months before being freed.

Abortion is a crime in Algeria and women patients risk two years in prison, while doctors can be jailed for up to five.

“The other accused, Boualem Ibari, who lives in Saint-Etienne, adopted two boys from the Ain Taya nursery, according to Algerian procedures,” the lawyer said.

“He was even authorised by the court of Rouiba [near Ain Taya] to change their names and take them out of Algeria on his passport,” he added.

Hamid Touliba, another lawyer for Dr Hanouti, said “all the adoptions in this case took place according to the law, with authentic documents, and none of the biological mothers filing a complaint.”

The charges of those on trial include criminal conspiracy, transporting children with premeditation, forgery and impersonation.”

Algeria child trafficking – 13 in court

[News 24 5/27/13 ]

“An Algiers criminal court has sentenced to 12 years in jail a doctor accused of kidnapping Algerian children born to single mothers and selling them for adoption in France.

Khelifa Hanouti, accused of illegally shipping the children abroad with the help of a notary, must also pay a fine of a million dinars (10,000 euros), the court ruled late on Monday.

Six French suspects of Algerian origin living in the French city of Saint-Etienne were sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison plus a fine of 20,000 euros each.

A notary accused of writing “disclaimer documents” signed by single mothers was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of 10,000 euros.

Four defendants were sentenced to three years suspended while another was acquitted.

The prosecution had requested a 20-year jail sentence and a fine of five million dinars (50,000 euros) for the main suspect Hanouti.

It had also demanded 10-year sentences for each of the remaining 12 suspects in the case, in which nine children of single mothers were allegedly kidnapped and sent to Saint-Etienne.

Seven of the accused appeared in court on Monday but none of the six French suspects of Algerian origin were present.

The case came to light in 2009 and according to the indictment it concerns nine children born to single mothers, sent to Saint-Etienne, where they were adopted for a fee.

The case first came to light when a young woman died in 2009 during an abortion at a clinic in the Algiers suburb of Ain Taya run by Hanouti, and an investigation was launched.

The lawyer said his client had initially been prosecuted for performing illegal abortions but this charge was finally dropped.

Hanouti had been convicted on the same charge in 2002, and handed a two-year jail sentence, of which he served nine months before being released.
Abortion is a crime in Algeria and women patients risk two years in prison, while doctors can be jailed for up to five.

One of the other suspects, Boualem Ibari, who lives in Saint-Etienne, “adopted two boys from the Ain Taya nursery, according to Algerian procedures,” the lawyer said.

“He was even authorized by the court of Rouiba (near Ain Taya) to change their names and take them out of Algeria on his passport,” he added.

Hamid Touliba, another lawyer for Hanouti, said “all the adoptions in this case took place according to the law, with authentic documents, and none of the biological mothers filing a complaint.”

The charges of those on trial include criminal conspiracy, transporting children with premeditation, forgery and impersonation.”

Algeria Doctor Gets 12 Years Jail for Trafficking Babies

[Arab News 5/28/13]

Le procès reporté pour la prochaine session [L’est Republicaine 2/18/13], Google-translated says “As a reminder, this case had come to light when the security services were able in 2009 to dismantle a “dangerous” network behind the disappearance of a large number of children and their traveling abroad ” through collusion supported by false proxies. ”

The network in question consisted of Algerians and French who activated since the 90s in Algeria and the investigation was unable to determine the exact number of children who have been removed. The investigation in this case was launched in 2009 following the death of a young girl during an abortion in a clinic located in Ain Taya (Algiers) belonging to a doctor, H. Khalifa, prime accused in the criminal case.

Henceforth, investigations have revealed that GP was posing as an obstetrician owner of a clinic in Ain Taya and, with the help of his sister, he took charge free single pregnant women to that they deliver and also operated the aborted fetuses he kept in a special product and exported abroad.

Two notaries are also involved in this case because they were responsible for drafting documents of discontinuance signed by single mothers. Following a thorough investigation, the security services have managed to get three children at the home of a pediatric nurse working in a nursery in El-Biar and discovered 12 adoption certificates drawn up between 2005 and 2006, in which nine children are already expats illegally and whose Kafalah was entrusted to others for a sum of money.

With the complicity of the fake doctor, a French national has been emigrate to France, two miners father and mother unknown, masquerading as legitimate children, according to the record of unloading. The doctor took care of single mothers during their pregnancy until delivery, after which he recorded the newborn on the registers of civil status until it leaves the territory on the basis of certificates of adoption (Kafala) written by a notary. The babies were then transferred to a pediatric nurse, who also took care of pregnant women about to give birth.”

REFORM Puzzle Piece