Hashem Osseiran
An illegal child adoption agency which allegedly worked to convince migrant domestic workers to give up newborns in return for facilitating travel back home has been accused of child trafficking and forging birth certificates. Zeina Abdullah, the owner of a migrant domestic worker recruitment agency, and two licensed Lebanese doctors were accused three weeks ago of child trafficking after an investigative reality show reported the case of a migrant worker who agreed to give up her child to the network.
Arrest warrants were issued Tuesday against Dr. Aziz Samaha and Dr. Fouad Joseph Helou by Judge Rami Abdullah, who is presiding over the case.
The three are accused of forming an illegal adoption network, which provides adopting families with newborn infants delivered by migrant domestic workers, according to a source who has attended the trial hearings of the three suspects.
According to the source, Abdullah was responsible for dealing with the birth mother and the adopting family, while the doctors would forge birth certificates and place the adoptive parent’s name on the certificate instead of the birth mother.
The recruitment agency would then try to convince the migrant domestic worker to give up her child by promising financial compensation or facilitating a flight home. Abdullah would contact the adoptive family and ask them to settle medical fees incurred for the delivery.
Abdullah is currently in custody alongside three adopting mothers who resorted to using her services.
One of the three mothers in custody, Sara, whose name has been changed, adopted a child through Abdullah on Feb. 5, 2013, her cousin told The Daily Star.
Abdullah contacted Sara after the latter informed several hospitals and organizations of her desire to adopt a child. Abdullah had never met Sara before and had acquired her number through an unidentified third party, the cousin said.
The recruitment agency owner informed the woman of the case of a Filipino domestic worker who had delivered a boy two days earlier in the Bitar Hospital in Metn. After telling Sara that the mother didn’t want the child, Abdullah proceeded to ask whether she would be interested in adoption.
“Out of her desperation for kids,” Sara agreed, the cousin said.
Sara immediately rushed to the hospital where she met with Abdullah and Dr. Samaha, who worked at the facility.
Abdullah informed the adopting mother that she would only have to cover hospital expenses, roughly $3,500, in return for the child.
Before leaving the hospital, Dr. Samaha approached Sara and asked if she would prefer to fabricate the child’s birth certificate by placing her own name as the biological mother.
“Of course she said yes. Having her name as the birth mother would spare her child so much difficulty when he would have to apply for official documents later on,” the cousin said. “She saw it as a means of avoiding further complications.”
The Filipino mother – who left Lebanon shortly after giving birth – had decided to give up her child after Abdullah had promised to facilitate her travel back to the Philippines. This was not the first time that Abdullah struck such a deal.
Zeina Abdullah rose to notoriety after the show “Hki Jeles” revealed the case of Victoria Salfani, also in custody for resorting to the services of the agency owner last February.
Elveena Okambo, a Filipino domestic worker, delivered her child in the Lebanese-Canadian Hospital in Sin al-Fil last January. The presiding physician, Dr. Helou, fabricated the birth certificate and Abdullah arranged for the adoption of the child by Salfani only a few days later.
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