She Faces Death Sentence...

[X-PASTER]

Laos mum-to-be denied UK lawyer

A pregnant Briton facing a possible death sentence in Laos if convicted of drug smuggling has reportedly been refused access to a lawyer.

Samantha Orobator was born
in Nigeria but grew up in London

Legal charity Reprieve said a planned meeting with Samantha Orabator, 20, of south London, had been blocked

She faces trial this week, accused of possessing 1.5lb (680g) of heroin when arrested at Wattay airport last August.

A Laos government spokesman told the BBC a pregnant woman would not be sentenced to death.

In Laos, anyone caught with more than 1lb (500g) of heroin faces a mandatory death sentence and at least 39 people have been sentenced to death in the south-east Asian country since 2003.

However, human rights watchdog Amnesty International reported last year that no-one had been executed in Laos since 1989.

And Laos government spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing told the BBC Miss Orobator's pregnancy would prevent her execution.

"We would not sentence a pregnant woman to the death penalty," he said.
Mr Nuanthasing said the trial would be conducted fairly but was unable to confirm a date.

Miss Orobator has been held at Phonthong prison, where she reportedly became pregnant in December

The Foreign Office said the vice-consul from Bangkok, in Thailand, had been allowed into Phonthong prison to speak to her on Tuesday. It was the seventh visit from UK officials

A spokesman was unable to comment on Miss Orobator's condition but said: "We are paying very close attention to her welfare.

Claire Algar, from Reprieve, said she was "encouraged" by the assertion that an expectant mother would not be shot but added: "She will only remain pregnant for the next however-many months.

She also said doctors and the UK Foreign Office had said Miss Orobator had become pregnant while in jail. The Laotian government has claimed she had been pregnant when arrested.

Jane Orobator has appealed
for her daughter's release

Reprieve says its human rights lawyer was refused access to Miss Orobator, without explanation. The charity is urging the authorities to ensure a fair trial

Ms Algar said: "It's very necessary that Samantha meet with a laywer and, we would say, both with a British lawyer and Laotian lawyer.

She said she was "extremely concerned" about Miss Orobator's welfare.
"People who have left [the prison] in the past have spoken about malnutrition, that they haven't received water regularly, there are no beds on which one can lie and they have also spoken of abuse," she added

The Foreign Office has reiterated the government's opposition to the death penalty "in all circumstances" and said it took "every opportunity to make representations to the Lao authorities about our opposition to the death penalty".

Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell is due to raise the case with the Laotian deputy prime minister when they meet in the UK on Thursday

They are expected to discuss a prisoner exchange agreement between the two countries and it is hoped Miss Orobator might be transferred to the UK as a result

Miss Orobator was born in Nigeria and lived in south London from the age of eight. Her father lives in Nigeria and her mother and three sisters live in the Irish Republic

She had been on holiday in Thailand and the Netherlands before travelling to Laos

Her mother Jane Orobator said: "I'm just appealing to the British government, to the Laos authorities, to just please release her. They should just bring her back to me.

Mrs Orobator added that she has no idea why her daughter was in Laos and had last heard from her in July, when she was in the Netherlands.

BBC NEWS | England | Friends' fight to save Laos woman

Source: BBC NEWS | UK | Laos mum-to-be denied UK lawyer​

 

[Ng'wanza Madaso]

Laos mum-to-be denied UK lawyer

A pregnant Briton facing a possible death sentence in Laos if convicted of drug smuggling has reportedly been refused access to a lawyer.

Samantha Orobator was born
in Nigeria but grew up in London

Legal charity Reprieve said a planned meeting with Samantha Orabator, 20, of south London, had been blocked

She faces trial this week, accused of possessing 1.5lb (680g) of heroin when arrested at Wattay airport last August.

A Laos government spokesman told the BBC a pregnant woman would not be sentenced to death.

In Laos, anyone caught with more than 1lb (500g) of heroin faces a mandatory death sentence and at least 39 people have been sentenced to death in the south-east Asian country since 2003.

However, human rights watchdog Amnesty International reported last year that no-one had been executed in Laos since 1989.

And Laos government spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing told the BBC Miss Orobator's pregnancy would prevent her execution.

"We would not sentence a pregnant woman to the death penalty," he said.
Mr Nuanthasing said the trial would be conducted fairly but was unable to confirm a date.

Miss Orobator has been held at Phonthong prison, where she reportedly became pregnant in December

The Foreign Office said the vice-consul from Bangkok, in Thailand, had been allowed into Phonthong prison to speak to her on Tuesday. It was the seventh visit from UK officials

A spokesman was unable to comment on Miss Orobator's condition but said: "We are paying very close attention to her welfare.

Claire Algar, from Reprieve, said she was "encouraged" by the assertion that an expectant mother would not be shot but added: "She will only remain pregnant for the next however-many months.

She also said doctors and the UK Foreign Office had said Miss Orobator had become pregnant while in jail. The Laotian government has claimed she had been pregnant when arrested.

Jane Orobator has appealed
for her daughter's release

Reprieve says its human rights lawyer was refused access to Miss Orobator, without explanation. The charity is urging the authorities to ensure a fair trial

Ms Algar said: "It's very necessary that Samantha meet with a laywer and, we would say, both with a British lawyer and Laotian lawyer.

She said she was "extremely concerned" about Miss Orobator's welfare.
"People who have left [the prison] in the past have spoken about malnutrition, that they haven't received water regularly, there are no beds on which one can lie and they have also spoken of abuse," she added

The Foreign Office has reiterated the government's opposition to the death penalty "in all circumstances" and said it took "every opportunity to make representations to the Lao authorities about our opposition to the death penalty".

Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell is due to raise the case with the Laotian deputy prime minister when they meet in the UK on Thursday

They are expected to discuss a prisoner exchange agreement between the two countries and it is hoped Miss Orobator might be transferred to the UK as a result

Miss Orobator was born in Nigeria and lived in south London from the age of eight. Her father lives in Nigeria and her mother and three sisters live in the Irish Republic
She had been on holiday in Thailand and the Netherlands before travelling to Laos

Her mother Jane Orobator said: "I'm just appealing to the British government, to the Laos authorities, to just please release her. They should just bring her back to me.

Mrs Orobator added that she has no idea why her daughter was in Laos and had last heard from her in July, when she was in the Netherlands.

BBC NEWS | England | Friends' fight to save Laos woman

Source: BBC NEWS | UK | Laos mum-to-be denied UK lawyer​

Wanaijeria wamezidi, Si wanawake wala wanaume

 

[Ng'wanza Madaso]

The Lao government has denied that a Briton facing a possible death sentence was raped in prison and became pregnant. Skip related content
Samantha Orobator, from south London, is five months pregnant and has been held at the notorious Phonthong jail in Laos since last August after she was allegedly caught with 1.5lb (680g) of heroin at Wattay airport in the East Asian country.

Lao official Khenthong Nuanthasing claims Miss Orobator was not raped.

He said: "It's impossible because the prison in Phonthong is specially created for women prisoners. Even the guards are all ladies."

Asked how Miss Orobator had become pregnant, he added: "We should know at a later stage. I want to know too."

Meanwhile, a human rights organisation has said the British Government must make "forceful representations" to the authorities in Laos to ensure Miss Orobator gets a fair trial and is safely returned to the UK.

Reprieve is writing to Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the eve of a visit of the Lao deputy prime minister and minister for foreign affairs to London.

The organisation will deliver the letter to Downing Street on Thursday.

In the letter, Reprieve's executive director Clare Algar writes: "Samantha is being held in deplorable conditions in the notorious Phongthong prison and is now five months pregnant.

"It is indisputable that Samantha became pregnant whilst in prison."

She went on: "We still have grave concerns about the fairness of any legal process.

"It is imperative that the British Government make forceful representations to the Lao authorities to ensure that Samantha receives a fair trial and that she and her baby are safely returned to the UK."

Anna Morris, a lawyer for Reprieve, is in Laos but has not been allowed to see Miss Orobator.

Meanwhile, there are differing reports about Ms Orobator's likely fate.

Initially it was reported she would face a firing squad if found guilty but it now appears Laotian law forbids the execution of pregnant prisoners.

The trial is expected to be held next week, but it is possible that it could be postponed until she has given birth, a Reprieve spokesman said.

The British Embassy's vice consul from neighbouring Thailand met Miss Orobator with a doctor on Tuesday, the Foreign Office earlier confirmed.

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Wanaijeria wamezidi, Si wanawake wala wanaume

Degauche2008'

si wamesema hapo juu she is a Briton?..sasa hii unaijeria
unatoa wapi tena?

 

[X-PASTER]

Degauche2008'

si wamesema hapo juu she is a Briton?..sasa hii unaijeria
unatoa wapi tena?

Binti kazaliwa Nigeria.... Amekwenda UK akiwa na miaka minane... Na anauraiya wa UK, ila hii issue naona wanataka kuipeleka kisiasa... Wauza ngoma wote wanajuwa kuwa ukishikwa ndani ya nchi hii, na zaidi ya nusu kilo ya Unga , adhabu yake ni kifo... sasa watetezi hawa wa haki za binadamu (!?) wanaona kuwa haiwezekani binti kunyongwa kwa kuwa ni mja mzito. Mbaya zaidi mimba inasemekana kaipatia humo humo jela (kama ni kweli).

Kisheria kama mwanamke aliye hukumiwa kunyongwa anakutwa ni mja mzito, itabidi wamsubirie ajifungue, na amalize kile kipindi cha miaka miwili ya kunyonyesha, kisha ndipo sheria itachukua mkondo wake.

 

[MzalendoHalisi]

Atundikwe tu: Lawer wa nini? wakati amekamatwa na unga? Mshikwa na ngozi ndo mwizi!!

sasa nani kamwambia auze unga??

Aaache kulia lia: yeye ni mtu mzima!

 

[MaxShimba]

Kaazi kweli kweli biashara nyingine. There are sooooo many legal ways to make good money.

Well, what could the mother do!?, pray for her criminal child.

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Inanonekana wamefikia mwafaka...

Jailed Briton could be transferred from Laos to UK if convicted


LONDON, England (CNN) -- A pregnant British woman jailed in Laos could be transferred to Britain to serve out her sentence if she is convicted under an agreement signed Thursday between UK and Laotian officials.

Briton Samantha Orobator has been jailed in Laos since August on a drug charge. She is five months' pregnant.

Samantha Orobator, 20, has been jailed since August. She was arrested at a Vientiane, Laos, airport and accused of carrying about a half-kilogram of heroin. Laotian officials and a legal charity working on her case have said she is five months' pregnant.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell met Laotian Deputy Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith on Thursday in London to discuss the case and sign a prisoner transfer agreement between the two countries.

The drug charge can carry the death penalty in Laos, but Laotian officials have said Orobator would escape the sentence because the country's criminal code prevents executing pregnant women.

Orobator's case has drawn attention because of her pregnancy, which may have been the result of rape, according to Reprieve, a London-based legal charity. Reprieve also has said Orobator has not had an attorney since her arrest last year.

"I pressed our concerns on behalf of Samantha with the deputy prime minister," Rammell said. "He said the Laotian authorities understood the need for Samantha to receive good medical and nutritional care. I was encouraged that Samantha has now been provided with a local lawyer who is working with the UK barrister from Reprieve."

A Laotian official said his government will wait for British approval of the Laotian lawyer before he can start working on the case.

The lawyer met with Orobator on Thursday for about 10 minutes to sign power of attorney documents, said Anna Morris, a Reprieve lawyer who traveled to Vientiane to represent the British woman.

Morris said she was told she would not be allowed into the prison to see Orobator but that she could send questions with the lawyer, who is supposed to meet Orobator on Friday.
Morris said she hopes she and the Laotian lawyer will be able to cooperate on the case. Morris said she was told that she would be allowed to be present in court.

"The deputy prime minister told me that the Lao government would consider Samantha eligible for transfer to the UK to serve out any sentence once the prisoner transfer agreement comes into effect," Rammell said. "We will continue to pay close attention to this case as it comes to trial."

Orobator's trial has not been scheduled but likely will happen next week, said Khenthong Nuanthasing, a Laotian Foreign Ministry spokesman.

It is normal in the Laotian justice system for a defendant to get an attorney only days before trial, according to Reprieve.Reprieve spokeswoman Clare Algar said Wednesday that it may be beneficial for Orobator to be tried quickly in Laos, be convicted and receive a sentence.
"It's quite weird as a human rights organization to say that. But if she is sentenced, the British government could ask for a prisoner transfer agreement so that she could be sent back to Britain to serve here," Algar said. "At a minimum, she would be in better conditions, and it would be better for her baby if she were here."

Algar said there have been complaints from others jailed in Laos that there's not enough water and food provided and that prisoners must sleep on the floor.The prison is co-ed, Algar said, but Laotian authorities insist that men and women are housed separately

Jailed Briton could be transferred from Laos to UK if convicted - CNN.com