American Couple Convicted in Egyptian Adoption Fraud Now Have Visa Troubles

In February, we reported about Egyptian adoption issues and the Wikileaks cables.

Iris Botros and Louis Andros “were arrested in Egypt in November 2008 on charges that they attempted to adopt two infants from a Christian orphanage, which is prohibited under Islamic law.”

“The couple denied any wrongdoing, saying they thought it was legal, but they were convicted in 2009 and were each sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $18,000 in fines.

They were released March 12, and thought they would be able to return home, but they now say they are trapped in the country.”

“They told us at the beginning (of our sentence that) we need to serve three months extra in prison and that would take care of the fine, and we did,” Botros said in a phone interview from Cairo on Monday. “After we did the three months, they told us that this fine is not erased, and we need to come up with the money.”

“The U.S. State Department says that the American embassy in Cairo is aware of the case and is working to clarify the terms of the couple’s sentence and fines.

A Cairo church is helping the couple with a place to live for now, but there’s yet another complication: Their travel visas ran out April 30.

Egyptian judges also found seven orphanage staff members guilty of forging birth certificates in the case.”

Durham couple imprisoned in Egypt faces more troubles
[WRAl 5/11/11 by Stacy Davis]

The NC article failed to include some of the details of the “adoption” by this 70-year-old man and his 40-year-old wife.

“On the advice of Egyptian friends, the two traveled to Cairo in the fall and were put in touch with a Coptic Christian orphanage that was caring for two newborn orphans.

The orphanage gave them forged documents to say Botros had given birth to the children, and the couple donated $4,600 to the orphanage, Saleh said.

But when they tried to get American passports for the babies, a U.S. Embassy employee became suspicious of them, Saleh said. When asked by an embassy official, Botros admitted she wasn’t the biological mother, the lawyer said.”

U.S. couple on trial in Egypt adoptions
[Denver Post 5/15/2009 by Anna Johnson and Maggie Michael, Associated Press]

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