Driving the last vestiges of Christianity from Egypt, and persecuting those who remain.
Posted on 5/18/2009, 5:25:31 AM by americanophile
CAIRO (AP) — An American woman who is being tried with her husband on charges of forgery and child trafficking after they adopted twin orphans said Saturday the trial was part of Egypt's "persecution" against Christians.
Iris Botros, a dual Egyptian citizen, spoke from behind the bars of a metal cage in a Cairo courtroom that also held her American husband, Louis Andros, and another couple that is being tried for adopting a newborn in Egypt. The trial is the first of its kind in the Muslim country, where religious tradition and murky laws make adoption nearly impossible.
In the tangle of the country's regulations and customs, even lawyers are unsure whether adoption is allowed. What is known is that Islamic law forbids adoption, and that is the law applied to Muslims in Egypt. The religion emphasizes maintaining clear bloodlines to ensure lines of patrimony and inheritance.
The law is far less clear concerning Egypt's Christian minority to which both couples belong. Adoptions within the Christian community — including by Egyptian Christians living abroad — do take place, usually involving a donation to a Christian orphanage. Proponents say this type of adoption is not explicitly banned, but still faces monumental barriers.
"This whole case came because we are Christians," the 40-year-old Botros told The Associated Press during the court's second session Saturday.
"This is all about the Christians' persecution," said Botros, wearing a white prison robe and breaking into tears as she told her story.
Many government officials are resistant to adoption — believing it is not allowed — and Muslim conservatives are opposed because they fear that Christians will adopt Muslim orphans and raise them as Christians.
Botros said the trial will cost her and her 70-year-old husband their house and the Greek restaurant they own in Durham, N.C.,
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Driving the last vestiges of Christianity from Egypt, and persecuting those who remain.
The muslims would rather see a kid starve in the gutter than to let a Christian raise it.
Another day, another dollar in the let-my-people-go land.
Yeah... that’s kinda sad.
I’ve always wanted to visit Egypt.
Obuma must be dancing with glee.
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I mean, she's pretty cute. (Miss Egypt 2009)
Another sad element is that it was someone on staff at the American Embassy who reported them.
Egypt is a great place to visit. See the great ruins of the Egyptians, the Greek and Roman contributions, the Christian and Byzantine contributions. If you can look past the filth of the current inhabitants, it’s a fascinating country.
I could see a Muslim reporting them, but if it were a Christian they are a traitor to their own people. This is all about Christian persecution. Egypt is no friend of Christianity.
Turkey, Jordan, Pakistan, Egypt. It’s depressing how fast things are going downhill in that part of the world.
I don’t know about their religion, but I think it is sad that an American would turn them in over this. As the husband said, “Well, our American Embassy, instead of helping the people, they put them in jail.”
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