Pregnant British Woman Could Face firing Squad in Laos

[Gaybutton]

British Woman Could Face Laos Death Penalty

 

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- A pregnant British woman facing possible execution in Laos will go on trial this week, the country's foreign affairs ministry said Monday.

 

Samantha Orobator "is facing death by firing squad for drug trafficking," said Clare Algar, executive director of Reprieve, a London-based human rights group.

 

Orobator, 20, was arrested on August 5, said Khenthong Nuanthasing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman.

 

She was alleged to have been carrying just over half a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of heroin, Reprieve lawyer Anna Morris told CNN by phone from Vientiane, the Laotian capital. "For that amount of heroin the sentence is normally the death penalty," she said.

 

Orobator's mother Jane found out in January her daughter was pregnant -- more than four months after she was arrested, her mother said.

 

Jane Orobator heard the news from the British Foreign Office, which has been monitoring the case, the mother told CNN by phone from Dublin, where she lives.

 

She cannot believe her daughter was involved in drug trafficking, and was surprised to learn she was in Laos, she said.

 

"I don't know" what she was doing there, she said. "The last time she spoke with me, she said she was on holiday in London and she would come to see us in Dublin before returning to the U.K. in July.

 

"She is not the type of person who would be involved in drugs," she added.

 

Reprieve is worried about her health, especially given her pregnancy, Anna Morris said.

 

"She became pregnant in prison. We are concerned that it may not have been consensual and we are concerned that someone who finds herself in prison at 20 is subject to exploitation," she said.

 

She is due to give birth in September, the lawyer added.

 

Reprieve sent Morris from London to Laos to try to help Orobator, Algar said.

 

The lawyer arrived there on Sunday and is hoping to visit Orobator on Tuesday, her boss at Reprieve said. A British consul has also arrived in the country.

 

"Reprieve heard about her case two weeks ago. We had thought yesterday the trial was going to start today," Algar said Monday. "We have now heard from Anna that it is not going to."

 

"I am the first British lawyer who has asked for access to her," Morris said. "She needs to have a local lawyer appointed to her. We are pressing very hard for the local authorities to appoint one."

 

She said it was normal in the Laotian justice system for a defendant to get a lawyer only days before a trial.

 

The last execution in Laos was in 1990, the foreign affairs spokesman said.

 

British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell issued a statement about Orobator on Saturday.

 

"The British Government is opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances. We have made the Laos authorities aware of this at the highest levels in Samantha's case," he said.

 

"We are paying close attention to her welfare and are in regular contact with the Laotian authorities about her case. British Embassy officials, including the Ambassador, have visited her six times since her arrest," he said.

 

"In addition, Britain's consular representatives in Laos, the Australian Embassy, including the Australian Embassy doctor, have visited Samantha 10 times on our behalf," he said.

 

There is no British Embassy in Laos. A British vice-consul arrived in the country this weekend, the Foreign Office said Monday.

 

Rammell plans to raise the Orobator case with the Laotian deputy prime minister this week, he said.

 

Samantha Orobator was born in Nigeria and moved to London with her family when she was 8, her mother said.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

She cannot believe her daughter was involved in drug trafficking, and was surprised to learn she was in Laos, she said.

 

"I don't know" what she was doing there, she said. "The last time she spoke with me, she said she was on holiday in London and she would come to see us in Dublin before returning to the U.K. in July.

 

"She is not the type of person who would be involved in drugs," she added.

The daughter told her mother she was in London and, instead, was in Laos. Doesn't that strike a warning bell in the mother's head?

 

If she got pregnant in prison, time will tell, at least it will tell if the baby is of mixed race. If the baby is Caucasian, she most likely was pregnant before prison.

 

One more point: If she is from Dublin as implied, she is not British, but rather, she is Irish.

[Guest fountainhall]

The daughter told her mother she was in London and, instead, was in Laos. Doesn't that strike a warning bell in the mother's head?

 

It certainly should have! Half a kilo of heroin is not a small amount. There are usually major warnings at border points and on airlines about the death penalty for drug trafficking. If she did take the drugs in to Laos, then I have little sympathy for her. Being cyncial, getting pregnant could have been a deliberate act to try and avoid the death penalty.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Being cyncial, getting pregnant could have been a deliberate act to try and avoid the death penalty.

Of course, they could still execute her after the baby is born.

[Gaybutton]

If the baby is Caucasian, she most likely was pregnant before prison.

I doubt that. She's black.

 

I agree with you in that they could execute her after the baby is born. If she really tried to bring that heroin into the country, I would have no problem seeing her executed or worse still, thrown into a Laotian prison for the rest of her life. I have absolutely no sympathy for drug smugglers or drug dealers. If she's truly guilty, you won't see me shedding any tears for her.

 

I am inclined to think she is guilty based on the mother's surprise that her daughter was in Laos at all. Unless she's estranged from her mother, it seems awfully unusual to me that her daughter would travel to Laos without saying anything to her or deliberately lying to her. No matter what, something strange seems to be going on, at the very least.

 

I hope they allow the baby to be born and then turn the baby over to whoever is appropriate. But if she's guilty, there's plenty of warning as to what will happen if caught trying to smuggle drugs. She took her chances and lost, if she's truly guilty. I have no sympathy.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

I doubt that. She's black.

OOPS!! I missed the last line in the story.

[Guest GaySacGuy]

If she got pregnant in prison, time will tell, at least it will tell if the baby is of mixed race. If the baby is Caucasian, she most likely was pregnant before prison.

 

She was arrested in August of 2008, and the baby isn't due till Sept. 2009...I'd say it is a certainty that she became pregnant in prison. If she had been pregnant prior to her arrest, she would be having the baby this month.

[Guest laurence]

I would have no problem seeing her executed or worse still, thrown into a Laotian prison for the rest of her life.

 

Perhaps you could arrange to be there for her execution so you could see for yourself?

 

We all have different views of what constitutes justice, but life in prison and execution are options that should only be applied to the most heinous crimes. Most civilized countries have banned executions. Smuggling drugs was a foolish thing to do but it does not warrant extreme punishment. There is a recent film, Maria Full of Grace, that deals with the subject of a pregnant Latino woman who smuggles drugs in the the US. Well worth watching.

There also is a series of TV shows in the US about Americans being imprisoned in foreign countries often as a result of drug smuggling. Most often ordinary people getting caught up in events that spin out of control.

 

"He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first ." JOHN 8:7

 

[Gaybutton]

Perhaps you could arrange to be there for her execution so you could see for yourself?

If she is truly guilty, then I would have no problem about that at all. I'm not "without sin," but none of my sins include drug smuggling and I think it does "warrant extreme punishment."

 

A TV series about foreign prisons is of no interest to me at all. Tell me about a TV series that shows what drugs do to people's lives. That's the one I'll watch. As far as I'm concerned, drug crimes are among the most heinous.

 

Your heart might bleed for these people. Mine does not.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Most civilized countries have banned executions.

What are the statistics of crime rate in the countries where executions have been banned as opposed to those where it has not? Does anyone have FACTS about this?

[Guest fountainhall]

Smuggling drugs was a foolish thing to do but it does not warrant extreme punishment

 

I'm totally with GB on this one. Drug smuggling is indeed a most heinous crime and there are enough warnings about penalties if you're caught. So anyone who is stupid enough to get involved fully deserves the punishment the law of the relevant land provides!

 

What are the statistics of crime rate in the countries where executions have been banned as opposed to those where it has not?

 

I have no idea. But given that this thread is about a possible death penalty for drug smuggling, I think a more appropriate question would be: does the existence of the death penalty bear any relation to the consumption of drugs within a country?

 

Again I cannot provide statistics, but if Singapore is an example, then there is a very strong relationship with the country having a much lower percentage of drug users and hence drug-related crimes..

 

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Again I cannot provide statistics, but if Singapore is an example, then there is a very strong relationship with the country having a much lower percentage of drug users and hence drug-related crimes..

I was asking about crime in general, but that would include drug trafficking.

[Guest fountainhall]

Having cited Singapore as an example, I should perhaps add that it is more like a police state than the fully fledged democracy it claims to be, and that may well be one reason why crime is not nearly as noticeable as in other countries. Personally, whilst I think Lee Kwan Yew and his people have achieved a near miracle if creating Singapore as a modern, vibrant - and, yes, beautiful - city in which something like 70% of the population own their own homes, and it was all done in a couple for generations, I could never live there. It's too controlled, there is 1 think just one opposition member of parliament, and there is an ever presnt sense of being watched by big brother. But it really is a cruisy place and the guys are gorgeous! Pity about that accent, tho'!

[Guest laurence]

Like I wrote, everyone has a different view on what constitutes justice. In Afghanistan they stone women prostitutes and other wayward women to death. In Iran they hang teenage gay boys.

For them, whores and fagots are those who commit heinous crimes.

 

The drug chain has many links including the smugglers/mules in the middle, the peasant opium farmers at the beginning and users in American and Europe at the end. To be fair why not just execute all of them? What I would agree is the drug lords are deserving of the harshest punishment. I think the Thai police did try something like that a few years ago.

 

Oh, there are shows on US T V about the effects of drugs on individuals and families. One in particular is called "Intervention".

[Guest GaySacGuy]

The Brits and Laos have already signed a trade agreement so that if conviceted she can serve out her time in Britian. They also said the death penalty is off the table becasue she is pregnant!

[Guest fountainhall]

The drug chain has many links including the smugglers/mules in the middle, the peasant opium farmers at the beginning and users in American and Europe at the end. To be fair why not just execute all of them?

 

It's not an issue of fairness: it's an issue of law. Whether or not you like a law - and I find some of the penalties in Sharia law horrendous - the fact is the law is the law, and if you break it, then you open yourself up to punishment according to the law of the land. I have no idea if there is any penalty for growing poppies in Afghanistan, but I doubt it is the death penalty - and nor should it be. I expect there is a variety of legal penalties as you get higher up the drug chain in accordance with the effect of these different actions. Clearly the most severe are - and should be - for those who package it all up, send it in to countries and then distribute and sell it.

[Guest laurence]

Clearly the most severe are - and should be - for those who package it all up, send it in to countries and then distribute and sell it.

 

The most severe should be reserved for the drug lords that oversee the operation, I suppose you might say they are the CEO's. Most of the dirty work is done by others who are desperate for money or addicts themselves. Unfortunately the ones at the very top are least likely to get punished although the must culpable. Yes, it is a dirty business.