A pregnant British woman faces death by firing squad if she is convicted of smuggling drugs at a trial in Laos, campaigners have said.Prosecutors claim Samantha Orobator, 20, was in possession of 1.5lb (680g) of heroin when she was arrested at Wattay airport in Laos in August.
Legal charity Reprieve has called on the UK government to intervene with the Laotian authorities on her behalf.
The Foreign Office says it is "paying close attention to her welfare".
Miss Orobator, from London, has been held since her arrest at Phonthong prison in the south east Asian country. She became pregnant in the prison in December and is due to give birth in September.
In Laos, anyone caught with more than 1lb (500g) of heroin faces a mandatory death sentence.
Reprieve legal director Clive Stafford Smith said that on Thursday the authorities in Laos announced that they were bringing forward her trial by around a year to next week.
He believes the decision to move the trial was only taken after arrangements were made for her to see a lawyer for the first time.
He said: "It's pretty shocking that they would do that apparently to avoid her seeing a British lawyer before she has to go to trial.
"The notion that no lawyer should be appointed to defend her is outrageous."
He said she was "certainly not guilty" and had originally told police the drugs were not hers.
Mr Stafford Smith added: "We're dealing with a woman who has clearly become pregnant in prison. Nothing that happens in that prison is voluntary".
Labour MP Stephen Pound, vice chair of the all party group on the death penalty, said Miss Orobator was being kept "in the most inhumane circumstances".
He criticised conditions in the prison saying there was evidence of "no space, no light, no exercise, no diet, no food, no consideration of the needs of a woman carrying a baby".
There is no British Embassy in Laos and the nearest is in the Thai capital, Bangkok.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are paying close attention to her welfare and are in discussion with the Laotian authorities about her case.
"We have visited Samantha every month and we have kept in close contact with the family."
She said Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Minister Bill Rammell will raise the issue with the Laotian foreign minister when he visits the UK on 7 May.
But Mr Stafford Smith fears that could be too late.
He said: "The trial will be over by then. We're calling on the government to do everything in its power".
He wants the trial to be put back and for Reprieve lawyers and mental health professionals to be allowed into the prison. He is also seeking assurances that Miss Orobator will be provided with a proper defence.
Miss Orobator was born in Nigeria but lived in south London from the age of eight. Her father lives in Nigeria and her mother and three sisters live in Ireland.
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So there you have it, diplomatic efforts for a drug smuggler, I have to commend the Laotians for their anti-drugs policy, after all drugs kill and the importation or dealing of them, is the same as firing a loaded gun amongst a crowd of people, someone somewhere is going to die, far better it be these reprehensible scourges on society, drug-dealers, importers and criminals.
Such diplomatic effort to free a drug-smuggler and her of other climes, what about the harm to the Laotian people through the injurious affects caused by drugs, they say Miss Orobator is innocent, what else would she say, what would you, faced with a death sentence. Hopefully readers viewing this, would take a similar stance in relation to drugs, drugs and nationalism do not mix and should ever a nationalist government come to power, then drug-dealers and other assorted parasites would have cause to fear. As for her being British ,well...
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3 Responses to "Pregnant Briton 'faces execution'"2 May 2009 at 13:18
'they say Miss Orobator is innocent, what else would she say, what would you, faced with a death sentence' - So you honestly believe that anyone who pleads innocent must be lying because of the consequence they could be faced with? You truly believe that every single person arrested where the consequence of their supposed action is death, must be guilty? I am shocked by your opinion. Of course in some cases I’m sure your right - people do plead innocent in the hope they will escape the death penalty. But having this opinion on every single case is ridiculous. Miss Orobator has been described by friends as someone who would not take drugs. Now of course you can come up with "of course her friend would say that, she is after all her FRIEND - she wouldn’t want Samantha Orobator to be killed". But truth be told, you can come up with another side of any story. There comes a point where you have to realise that you do not know this case well enough to be condemning people like that, and announcing to the world that she IS guilty. You do not know this, and your attitude is completely insensitive and inhumane. This woman has her whole life in front of her, as far as anyone can figure out she has never taken drugs before or even expressed the remotest interest in them. You have cleary stated your view as pro the Laos Government and the Phonthong prison. However have you considered the ethics of this? Phonthong prison itself has abused their inmates, it’s supposed to be an all female prison however it’s known that it is not. And if it is - then how could Miss Orobator have become pregnant? Is possession of drugs worse than rape? Miss Orobators crime may not even be hers, but the officials of Phonthong prison which you commend so highly have crimes of their own which you have not addressed. From abusing prison inmates to not even contacting the British embassy of their arrest of Miss Orobator because they didn’t "have a fax machine". Surely when someone’s life is on the line you would find another way to contact someone other than a fax machine, obviously their efforts did not go very far, or go at all. Your insensitive thoughts are hurtful and brutal. I hope you reconsider your opinions which may have these effects before you go publishing them to the world.
2 May 2009 at 19:08
Thank you anonymous for your reply however, your argument is somewhat flawed, you say that, “There comes a point where you have to realise that you do not know this case well enough to be condemning people like that, and announcing to the world that she IS guilty”. However unless there’s something your not telling me, you do not know the case enough, what I do know anonymous, is that drugs kill and that almost all drug smugglers claim innocence. I know that hard drugs eminent from non-white countries brought in by non-whites to harm white communities,” although this is changing as whites succumb to the lure of money”.
Now of course, it may very well be the case that many drug smugglers are simply mules, poor individuals who need money and so accept this deadly commission, it matters not, such people must know the toll that drugs inflict upon communities. You then, for some time, inform me of the inhumane conditions of Phonthong and perhaps, expect me to feel empathy, shall I tell you anonymous, prison should be a punishment, it should never be nice, never be a place whereby society gives in to evil. Of course we do not know the full details; I however, am going on the modus operandi of most drug smugglers, whereas you, to the best of my knowledge, are relying on empathy, placing the individual before society.
Now if you have evidence that Miss Orobator is innocent then please bring it to the table, I assure you my position will change then, as it is, you bring nothing, just liberalist conjecture. Perhaps you should save your empathy for the millions of addicts now living quite terrible lives, forces by circumstance to give all they have for their next fix. The endless crimes committed by them, against society, in order to fund their wretched habit, the many who close off their minds, as they submit to another’s lust, again to fund their habit, the parent, sibling or friend, unable to help those they love, no, don’t waste your empathy on those that would cause this, save it for the true victims.
I have to say, that unless Miss Orobator was raped, then perhaps Phonthong prison, isn’t quite that bad, after all, indulging in carnal pleasure is a great measure of personal freedom, perhaps and you can call me cynical, perhaps Miss Orobators pregnancy is fortunate, to say the least, could it be that an unborn child may hold the key to freedom and somewhere at some time, Miss Orobator realised this. You see they can kill her, they have that right, she has transgressed against their laws, yet this unborn innocent has not, so perhaps I am cynical, perhaps the years of endlessly putting up with criminals having human rights, when society has none have taken their toll, perhaps or perhaps I am just right.
4 May 2009 at 22:02
Thank you for your reply. And no, I do not have any evidence that Miss Orobator is innocent, but you do not have any evidence otherwise. What can be proved without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence. I do not think, Mr Cognisant, that either of us are "right" or "wrong", I am merely expressing my opinion as your first article had a very strong effect on me, I assumed you were doing the same.
Oh I agree, I do not wish to give the impression that I think prisons should be comfortable and relaxing. However beating and abusing inmates is definitely not the answer. I find it hard to believe that you think this is the answer, surely then the guards are just lowering themselves to the level of the inmate’s crimes?
To be perfectly honest I do not believe that prisons are the answer at all, they do not rectify the problem, they do not solve the problem - if they did surely prisons all over the world now would not be becoming over crowded. I'd be interested to hear your views on this. I do not suggest that I have the answer to crimes committed, or that I would be able to do anything more successful. However I think that more work should be put into giving people second chances rather than treating them like criminals. Now, I contradict myself - because of course they are criminals, yes? But by treating someone like a criminal for so long, they will believe nothing more than exactly that - and become exactly that, with no hope. Surely in this world we would rather teach someone a lesson rather than simply lock them up keeping their mind set exactly how it was before when they committed the crime. What are your opinions on this?
'Miss Orobators pregnancy is fortunate, to say the least, could it be that an unborn child may hold the key to freedom and somewhere at some time, Miss Orobator realised this.' - Do you suggest this Miss Orobator deliberately tried to become pregnant as an escape route? This shocks me. Miss Orobator was said to be completely distraught when she was visited. She also became pregnant 4 months after being in prison - she has been under the belief that the trial would be a year from now since entering the prison, now I assume that this would lead her to believe she would have a long time to get a defence lawyer and come up with a good defence. She only found out last week that the trial was to be brought forward (it has now in fact been postponed due to pressure from British Human Rights group). She has been pregnant for some time; she became pregnant while still under the belief that she would have a year to come up with a good defence. The two ideas do not match. Although I am completely open to this option, and agree that many people may have seen this as a solution.
But do you truly think its okay to end someone’s life for a crime they have committed? I really don’t see this as the answer to the world’s problems - getting rid of anyone who poses a threat to the world. Because at the end of the day society is made up of individuals, and individuals will abuse the death penalty - however lightly or significantly, because we all have opinions. Its opinions that decide the fate of someone’s life. Is that right? I do not believe so. I realise that some people are past repenting for their sins, and no amount of teaching and work could make them change - but I do not believe it’s our right to take away someone’s life. Because who says we're right, and who says we're wrong? At the end of the day it’s all individual opinions. What I find hard to believe is that you full heartedly think Miss Orobator should be killed. I do not have evidence that this individual is innocent, but even if she wasnt I would not wish this upon anyone. And if she is? Then you seem very sure of your opinion without fully knowing if she’s guilty or not, how could that be, that someone’s life is so easy for you to say it is right to be ended – without even knowing if that person is guilty or not of the crimes committed. Surely life is worth more than that? The recent case of Kenny Richie, who was on death row for 18 years - I believe if we were having the conversation about this individual, not Miss Orobator, before it was announced of his innocence - you would still believe that he should be killed. It’s very obvious now that he's innocent, and the fact that someone's OPINION was going to take his life away, is awful. I don't think the evidence against Miss Orobator is strong enough, she has never been interested in drugs before and led a lifestyle that did not suggest this either. Perhaps if the circumstances were different my take on this would be less strong. Either way, I’d be interested to hear your opinion, however "right" or "wrong" you think mine might be.
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