'Drug-smuggling' Briton who became pregnant in Laos prison could spend any jail time in UK

By David Gardner

Enlarge   Accused: Samantha Orobator

Accused: Samantha Orobator will escape execution in Laos as she is pregnant

The pregnant Briton jailed in Laos accused of heroin trafficking could spend any future sentence in the UK, according to the Foreign Office.

Laotian deputy premier Thongloun Sisoulith has given assurances that Laos would consider turning over Samantha Orobator, 20, if she is convicted.

A Foreign Office spokesman said any deal on prisoners had to be ratified by Parliament and then the final decision would be up to Laos.

Miss Orobator, from London, could have faced a firing squad if convicted but the death penalty no longer applies because she is pregnant.

The circumstances of Ms Orobator's pregnancy remained unclear, though a Laos government spokesman said that she told authorities in an interview after her arrest that she had become pregnant with her boyfriend.

The British legal charity Reprieve, however, said Ms Orobator was currently five months pregnant - meaning she became pregnant while in prison.

Director Clive Stafford Smith wrote to Foreign Secretary David Miliband asking him to intervene to ensure Ms Orobator got independent legal advice.

He said: 'We are all glad to see that the Laotians have recognised that their own law forbids executing Samantha by firing squad.

'But this is only a first, belated step forward. It was cruel to allow Samantha to think she might be shot for all these months, and the Laotians knew all along that she needed a lawyer.


'What they did not know is the international outrage that the case would cause. It seems that by delaying they now hope that the media will lose interest in Samantha's plight.'

He also criticised reports that Laotian officials had claimed Ms Orobator was already pregnant when she was arrested.

He said: 'Samantha is due on September 6, 2009, when she will have been in prison for 13 months.

'Perhaps the Laotians are under the misapprehension that she is a blue whale, that has a 13 month gestation period, but she is not, she is a human being.'

Enlarge   A view from inside Phonthong prison, where Ms Orobator is being kept

A view from inside Phonthong prison, where Ms Orobator is being kept in Laos

The infirmary at Phonthong prison. The prison has a reputation for beatings and brutality


The charity also released details of a US Department of State report from 2008 that described prison conditions in Laos as 'generally harsh and occasionally life-threatening'.

Phonthong prison has a reputation for beatings and brutality. There has been no comment on whether she was raped in prison.

Ms Orobator has been in the prison since August on charges of smuggling 1.5lb of heroin.

Anna Morris, a lawyer for fair trials group Reprieve, was due to see Ms Orobator for the first time after flying to Laos over the weekend but, along with the British Embassy official, was denied access to her.

Britain has no diplomatic presence in the Communist south-east Asian country and there is no precedent for a drug case involving a Briton, making negotiations with the authorities difficult.

Ms Morris said she was concerned that a trial would not meet the judicial standards of most countries.


Jane Orobator holding a picture of her daughter Samantha at home in Castleknock, Dublin

'She hasn't been appointed a lawyer yet and that has been our concern,' she said. 'We are concerned that any hearing may be quite quick in comparison to what would happen in other countries.'

Enlarge   The young mother-to-be won't face death by firing squad as she is pregnant


Ms Orobator was born in Nigeria and moved to London to live with her aunt from the age of eight. She lived in Camberwell and Peckham before leaving the country to travel to Ireland, Holland and Thailand. She was arrested at Laos airport on her way back to the UK.

Her mother, Jane Orobator, a student at Trinity College, Dublin, previously said: 'I just want them to bring her back to me. I'm really terrified. I have been crying my eyes out.'

The only communication she has received from her daughter was a letter fed through the Australian embassy in January asking for a blanket, black pepper, soap, a mosquito net, candles and matches.

Since 2003, at least 39 people have been sentenced to death in Laos but the last known execution was in 1990. None of the convicts was a foreign national.

One Westerner who was held in the prison said conditions were 'horrific'.

'Nobody went through that prison who didn't suffer in some way,' she said. 'We endured mock executions, waterboarding and torture.'

She and her husband spent time there nine years ago after being accused of jewel smuggling.