annaboley
28-05-2009, 10:11 AM
A pregnant British woman, Samantha Orobator, is facing death by firing squad for smuggling heroin in what campaigners describe as a "hasty show trial" in Laos. May 2009
Miss Orobator, 20, from London was arrested last August at Wattay airport in the south east Asian country.
Prosecutors claim she had 680 grams (1.3lb or 21 oz) of heroin in her luggage. According to the legal campaign group Reprieve she has not met a lawyer since she was arrested 9 months ago but it is believed that she denies the drugs were hers.
Under Lao law the death penalty is mandatory for possession of over 500 grams of heroin. At least 39 people have been sentenced to death for a variety of offences since 2003.
On Thursday, without warning or explanation, the government of Laos rescheduled Miss Orobator's trial for next week, but they have still not announced which day the case will begin.
A statement by Reprieve said: "By scheduling her trial for next week, the Laos court has made it impossible for any lawyer to prepare an adequate defence... Samatha's life now hangs in the balance." The fast tracking of the trial came as the Lao authorities knew that a lawyer from Reprieve was preparing to meet Miss Orobator for the first time.
"Laos appears to be acting in a way that frustrates Samantha's right to appropriate legal assistance," Reprieve concluded.
Miss Orobator became pregnant in unknown circumstances in December, four months after she was arrested. "It is not possible to confirm whether she was raped," Reprieve said.
"The prison where she is being held in Phonthong is meant to be all female, but this is apparently not the case."
Reports of the notoriously abusive Phonthong prison describe "highly unsanitary" conditions, inadequate rations and severe punishments for supposed breaches of discipline.
Reprieve said: "Samantha is severely distressed, and Reprieve has grave concerns for her health and that of her unborn child." Another British prisoner, Michael Newman, died after being reportedly refused medical attention at the same prison last year.
Miss Orobator had been on holiday in Holland, Thailand and Laos for around a month when she was arrested as she began her journey home.
Her friends in London, interviewed by Reprieve researchers preparing her defence, say she had never been involved with drugs.
One of her former teachers said, "She was very popular. I remember she had a bizarre sense of humour. She was very bright... she always got As and Bs." There is no British embassy in Laos, a communist dictatorship of 6 million people. British diplomats in next door Thailand only learnt of her detention months after she was arrested. Since then she has been allowed to meet a consular official for only 20 minutes every month, always with a guard present.
A spokesman for the British embassy in Bangkok said: "We have been actively engaging with the Lao authorities at a senior level."
In a press conference at Westminster on Friday the human rights lawyer and founder of Reprieve, Clive Stafford Smith, called on Miss Orobator's MP, Harriet Harman, to intervene on her behalf. The foreign minister of Laos is visiting Britain on 7 May.
poor pretty black girl!!!!
Miss Orobator, 20, from London was arrested last August at Wattay airport in the south east Asian country.
Prosecutors claim she had 680 grams (1.3lb or 21 oz) of heroin in her luggage. According to the legal campaign group Reprieve she has not met a lawyer since she was arrested 9 months ago but it is believed that she denies the drugs were hers.
Under Lao law the death penalty is mandatory for possession of over 500 grams of heroin. At least 39 people have been sentenced to death for a variety of offences since 2003.
On Thursday, without warning or explanation, the government of Laos rescheduled Miss Orobator's trial for next week, but they have still not announced which day the case will begin.
A statement by Reprieve said: "By scheduling her trial for next week, the Laos court has made it impossible for any lawyer to prepare an adequate defence... Samatha's life now hangs in the balance." The fast tracking of the trial came as the Lao authorities knew that a lawyer from Reprieve was preparing to meet Miss Orobator for the first time.
"Laos appears to be acting in a way that frustrates Samantha's right to appropriate legal assistance," Reprieve concluded.
Miss Orobator became pregnant in unknown circumstances in December, four months after she was arrested. "It is not possible to confirm whether she was raped," Reprieve said.
"The prison where she is being held in Phonthong is meant to be all female, but this is apparently not the case."
Reports of the notoriously abusive Phonthong prison describe "highly unsanitary" conditions, inadequate rations and severe punishments for supposed breaches of discipline.
Reprieve said: "Samantha is severely distressed, and Reprieve has grave concerns for her health and that of her unborn child." Another British prisoner, Michael Newman, died after being reportedly refused medical attention at the same prison last year.
Miss Orobator had been on holiday in Holland, Thailand and Laos for around a month when she was arrested as she began her journey home.
Her friends in London, interviewed by Reprieve researchers preparing her defence, say she had never been involved with drugs.
One of her former teachers said, "She was very popular. I remember she had a bizarre sense of humour. She was very bright... she always got As and Bs." There is no British embassy in Laos, a communist dictatorship of 6 million people. British diplomats in next door Thailand only learnt of her detention months after she was arrested. Since then she has been allowed to meet a consular official for only 20 minutes every month, always with a guard present.
A spokesman for the British embassy in Bangkok said: "We have been actively engaging with the Lao authorities at a senior level."
In a press conference at Westminster on Friday the human rights lawyer and founder of Reprieve, Clive Stafford Smith, called on Miss Orobator's MP, Harriet Harman, to intervene on her behalf. The foreign minister of Laos is visiting Britain on 7 May.
poor pretty black girl!!!!