CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Suzanne Hagelof and Iris Botros dreamed of adopting babies. Separately, they visited orphanages in Egypt. Hagelof adopted a child, and Botros was in the process of adopting twins, when they ran foul of authorities. Now they are in jail, accused of being part of a conspiracy to traffic children.



Iris Botros and her husband, Luis Andros, are accused of trying to smuggle twins out of Egypt.



Last week, the two women were led into a Cairo courtroom in handcuffs, along with six other people. They stood in a big black cage in the courtroom, looking apprehensive amid the hubbub.



To their defenders, all they were trying to do was provide orphans with a better chance in life. To the prosecution, they were involved in forging documents to try to adopt children illegally and smuggle them out of the country.



Along with the two American women, the accused include their husbands, two doctors, a nun who ran an orphanage, and an Egyptian banker. Watch the women get bundled into court »



A year ago, Hagelof, a U.S. citizen who lives in Egypt with her husband, adopted a child from an orphanage run by the Coptic Christian Church, a religious minority in Egypt. She says no money changed hands.



Several months later, Luis Andros, a U.S. citizen who is originally from Greece, and his wife, Iris Botros, left their restaurant business in North Carolina for Egypt. Botros, who is originally from Egypt, visited another orphanage run by the church. She paid the orphanage about $4,600 for the twins -- partly for clothes and partly as a donation.



Both women wanted to take the children to the United States -- in Hagelof's case for a visit, but in Botros' case to begin a new life in Wake Forest, North Carolina. And that's where the trouble began.



To get a visa for the children, both women went to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. According to their attorneys, the documents they presented included birth certificates and certificates signed by doctors stating they were the natural mothers.



According to defense attorneys, the two women knew they were using forged documents.



Embassy officials became suspicious of the documents -- partly because the women seemed too old to be the mothers. Both Hagelof and Botros are in their mid- to late forties.



The embassy contacted Egyptian authorities, and both Hagelof and Botros -- along with their husbands -- were arrested soon afterward, as was a nun from a Coptic orphanage and a banker who allegedly helped Botros make contact with the nun. Also arrested were two doctors who had written the certificates for the three infants, all of whom are now at an orphanage not affiliated with the church.



Neither the U.S. Embassy nor the U.S. State Department will comment on the case, citing the ongoing trial.



Botros' husband, Andros, blames the embassy for their plight. Asked through the bars of the courtroom cage what had happened, he replied, "Well, our American Embassy, instead of helping the people, they put them in jail."



His wife interjected, insisting they would not get a fair trial. A few feet away, Suzanne Hagelof called out, "We want to tell our story," while her husband, Medhat, looked on, quiet and dejected. As reporters tried to talk to the defendants, a guard intervened, shouting "Sit down, sit down."



Adoption has long been illegal under Egyptian law as well as being forbidden under sharia, Muslim religious law. Fostering is legal but uncommon.



It has become a high-profile issue since Suzanne Mubarak, wife of the president, embarked on a campaign to stamp out human trafficking. She recently told CNN that human trafficking "exists in all societies."



"I came to realize what an insidious crime this was and how it was just really built on profit. On not only low morals, on no morals at all," she said.



And that's how the prosecution seems to be framing this case, using a law passed last year that provides for tough
Where did the women adopt children from? Where was the U.S. Embassy located? What was raised when they sought visas for children at U.S. Embassy in Cairo? Who was the orphanage run by?
Egypt. Cairo. certificates and certificates signed by doctors stating the Coptic Christian Church,
question: Where did the women adopt children from?, answer: Egypt. | question: Where was the U.S. Embassy located?, answer: Cairo. | question: What was raised when they sought visas for children at U.S. Embassy in Cairo?, answer: certificates and certificates signed by doctors stating | question: Who was the orphanage run by?, answer: the Coptic Christian Church,