Samantha Orobator- drug smuggling case

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Pregnant Briton Samantha Orobator to face drug smuggling trial in Laos on Monday


AAPP says: Get this, Samantha Orobator fell pregnant four months after being taken into prison. Is there any question this pretty black woman was raped? I wonder if Samantha Orobator was blonde and blue eyed, if media in the U.S. would cover this story big time? What do you think?
According to the Telegraph.com.uk, 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 offenses 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. "





The trial of a pregnant Briton who could face death by firing squad if she is convicted of drug smuggling is to take place tomorrow, according to a legal charity.


Samantha Orobator was arrested at Wattay Airport in Laos in August last year after she was allegedly caught with 680g of heroin. In Laos, smuggling more than 500g carries a mandatory death sentence.


Reprieve lawyer Anna Morris flew into the country today fearing the trial would start before they were allowed to meet on Tuesday.


According to the charity, Orobator was able to make contact with their office in London today and said she had been told the trial would start tomorrow morning.


Reprieve said the Laotian authorities brought the trial forward in an apparent attempt to stop lawyers from intervening. Up until now the 20-year-old from south London has had no legal representation.


Speaking from Laos, Morris said she would meet with British consular officials tomorrow.


She said she understood the system in Laos was that defendants were only able to see lawyers a week before their trials or, in some cases, on the same day trials began.


She told Sky News: "That has been our concern from the outset, that she has had no access to legal counsel before this week.


"We don't know that she is going to have any before any trial takes place and we are deeply concerned about the implications of that for her given her vulnerability, given her age and given her lack of familiarity with the system."
She said British officials had only been able to visit Orobator for a period of 20 minutes once a month.


The British only learned of her arrest when she had already spent many months languishing in the notorious Phonthong prison.


"Through no fault of their own they simply haven't been allowed the access to her," Morris said.


"We are concerned about her healthcare standards, we are concerned about her nutrition, we are concerned about her lack of pre-natal care.


"This is a vulnerable young woman with child so we are extremely concerned about the lack of access that anyone has had.


"It's simply not acceptable to allow this young woman to be without a lawyer and then to move the trial to a time she is not certain of and before her British lawyers and consular representatives have a chance to see her."
Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said: "Somehow she managed to get a call through. She told us the trial had been set for tomorrow.


"This whole process is a farce. The trial is just being put on as a show.
"They wanted to get it all over with before she was able to see a British lawyer."


Her mother, Jane Orobator, a student at Trinity College Dublin, broke down as she said: "I'm so scared. I'm so scared. She does not even have her legal representative and they are bringing her for a trial. I don't know what they are up to there."


She said she found out about her daughter's arrest around late September but did not believe it was really her.


"Initially I didn't believe she was the one because of her personality," she told Sky News.


"I don't believe something like that has happened to her. I thought it was somebody else. She's not that type of girl. It's not in her."


The justice secretary, Jack Straw, said: "There's not been a sentence of death here but our view about and our policy about capital punishment is absolute: we are against capital punishment in any circumstances and wherever a British citizen has been sentenced to death we make very very strong representations for that sentence not to be carried out and for it to be commuted."


Laos broke international agreements on consular relations by not informing the British, apparently using the excuse that they did not have access to a fax machine.


There is no British embassy in Laos and the nearest is in Thailand.


The FCO found out "by coincidence" when the Australians passed on information from another inmate in Phonthong prison.


Foreign office minister Bill Rammell said he will raise the case with the Laotian deputy prime minister when they meet in the UK on Thursday.


Campaigners have also raised questions over how Orobator, who is due to give birth in September, could have become pregnant while in jail.


Stafford Smith said: "She is five months pregnant, without ever having met a lawyer, facing a show trial for her life
"If this provokes a miscarriage, the Laotians should understand that they have caused the death of this baby.


"There can hardly be a circumstance where scheduling a capital trial is less appropriate."


She has been held since her arrest at the notorious Phonthong prison, where inmates have complained of being beaten and abused.


Orobator was born in Nigeria but lived in south London 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 is understood to have been arrested in Laos on her way back to the UK.
In the prison, cells measuring four square metres are used to house up to six prisoners.


The daily ration reportedly consists of two bowls of pig fat water soup and 500g of sticky rice, and most prisoners rely on their families to deliver food.
Other prisoners have reported incidents of abuse and torture, with some inmates having their genitals burnt.


Since 2003 at least 39 people have been sentenced to death in the east Asian country.

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PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCED:
1pm, Friday 1st May 2009, Room C, 1 Parliament Street, Westminster
With Clive Stafford Smith and Stephen Pound MP

PRESS BRIEFING: under strict embargo until press conference 1pm
01/05/2009


PREGNANT LONDONER FACES DEATH PENALTY: Samantha Orobator to face hasty ‘show’ trial in Laos


Reprieve is urgently concerned for a pregnant British woman without
legal representation who faces a hastily arranged trial – and possible
death penalty - in Laos next week. Clive Stafford Smith will reveal
details of the case at a press conference tomorrow at 1pm in Room C, 1
Parliament Street, Westminster.


Samantha Orobator, 20, was arrested at Wattay Airport on 6th August
2008 on a drug smuggling charge.


Since then she has been held in the notoriously abusive prison
Phonthong where she became pregnant in early December. There are many
reports of abuse and several deaths, including that of a British
national last year. Conditions in the prison remain harsh and the
diet is dangerously inadequate. Samantha is severely distressed, and
Reprieve has grave concerns for her health and that of her unborn
child.


By scheduling her trial for next week, the Laos court has made it
impossible for any lawyer to prepare an adequate defence. If convicted
next week, Samantha would face death by firing squad.


Born in Nigeria in 1988, Samantha moved to the UK when she was eight
years old, and was raised by her aunt in south London.


Samantha left home in July 2008 for a holiday and, after visiting the
Netherlands and Thailand, was arrested in Laos with 0.6 kg of heroin.
This is a comparatively small amount, but exceeds the statutory
minimum for the death penalty in Laos. There is no evidence that she
was anything more than a mule.


Reprieve believes Samatha’s life now hangs in the balance, and is
urgently appealing to Samantha’s MP, Harriet Harman, to intervene on
her behalf.


For more information please contact Katherine O’Shea at Reprieve’s
Press Office katherine.os...@reprieve.org.uk 020 7427 1099.

Notes for Editors:


Reprieve, a legal action charity, uses the law to enforce the human
rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantánamo Bay. Reprieve
investigates, litigates and educates, working on the frontline, to
provide legal support to prisoners unable to pay for it themselves.
Reprieve promotes the rule of law around the world, securing each
person’s right to a fair trial and saving lives. Clive Stafford Smith
is the founder of Reprieve and has spent 25 years working on behalf of
people facing the death penalty in the USA.


Reprieve’s current casework involves representing 33 prisoners in the
US prison at Guantánamo Bay, working on behalf of prisoners facing the
death penalty, and conducting ongoing investigations into the
rendition and the secret detention of ‘ghost prisoners’ in the so-
called ‘war on terror.’


Reprieve
PO Box 52742
London EC4P 4WS
Tel: 020 7353 4640
Fax: 020 7353 4641
Email: i...@reprieve.org.uk




Reprieve is a charitable company limited by guarantee; Registered
Charity No. 1114900 Registered Company No. 5777831 (England)
Registered Office 2-6 Cannon Street London EC4M 6YH; Chair: Lord
Bingham; Patrons: Alan Bennett, Julie Christie, Martha Lane Fox,
Gordon Roddick, Jon Snow, Marina Warner

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Mother appeals for daughter's release

The mother of a young pregnant Briton who faces death by firing squad if convicted of drug smuggling yesterday spoke of her fears for her daughter.
Jane Orobator, a student at Trinity College Dublin, appealed to the British government to bring her home.

Samantha Orobator (20) from south London has been in jail since last August after she was allegedly caught with 1.5lb (680g) of heroin.

In Laos, smuggling more than 500g of heroin carries a mandatory death sentence.

She had been told her trial would start today, but the proceedings are now expected to start tomorrow at the earliest.

Her mother said she has no idea why her daughter was in Laos last summer and didn’t believe it when she heard of her arrest around late September.

She said the case is totally out of character for her daughter, who she described as a quiet, shy, small-built girl who looks like a young teenager.

“I’m so scared. I’m just appealing to the British Government, to the Laos authorities, to just please release her. They should just being her back to me. Please," she said.

“I just want them to bring her back to me. I’m really terrified. I have been
crying my eyes out.”

It is feared Samantha Orobator, who is five months pregnant, has had no proper legal representation since being arrested at the country’s Wattay Airport last summer.

British authorities have only been able to visit her for a period of 20 minutes, once a month. Officials only learned of Ms Orobator's arrest when she had already spent many months in jail.

There is no British embassy in Laos and the nearest is in Thailand.

Foreign office minister Bill Rammell has said he will raise the case with the Laotian deputy prime minister when they meet in the UK on Thursday.

The British vice-consul from Bangkok in the neighbouring country of Thailand flew out to Laos yesterday to check on her.

A spokesman for the embassy said: “(The vice-consul) will try to see her today.

“We are trying very hard to ensure that she does have good legal representation.”

Lawyer Anna Morris from legal rights charity Reprieve also flew into the country yesterday after permission was granted to meet Orobator tomorrow.

The charity said Ms Orobator made contact with their office in London by telephone yesterday to say she had been told she will face the court this morning.

But Ms Morris told Sky News: “We have been told the trial will not take place today, and we are very much working on that basis.

“It could take place tomorrow, but the trial has no fixed date.”

Reprieve said the trial has been brought forward, with suspicions that was done to stop Orobator receiving proper legal representation.

“There has been a significant shift in this trial date. We are still unclear as to the reason for that," Ms Morris said.

“We are working closely with the British embassy in Thailand and are encouraging them to do whatever is necessary to put pressure on the authorities to ensure her welfare.”

She added that she has not yet been able to see Ms Orobator.

“I would only imagine that the conditions are extremely difficult for her,” Ms Morris said.

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Samantha Orobator, 20, was arrested at Wattay Airport in Laos in August last year allegedly in possession of 1.5lb (680g) of heroin after a holiday in Thailand and the Netherlands.


She has been held since her arrest at the notorious Phonthong prison, where she became pregnant in December and where inmates have complained of being beaten and abused.


Orobator, from south London, lived in both Camberwell and Peckham before going first to Ireland, where her mother Jane Orobator, and three young sisters live.


Reprieve legal director Clive Stafford Smith said her trial had been brought forward 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.


In Laos, people caught with more than 1lb (0.5kg) of heroin face a mandatory death sentence.


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."


Ronke Oseni, 21, a psychology student at Kingston University, has known Orobator for 11 years and said her friend would never take drugs.


She said: "There is no one there to visit her, no one to talk to, she doesn't speak the language. I'm really scared for her. I can't even imagine what she's going through.


"The punishment does not fit the crime. They want to shoot her but what about the baby?"


Miss Oseni said Orobator had led a troubled life and had made several suicide attempts in the past, adding: "She suffered from low self esteem because she suffered a lot of abuse by men, by family, by friends."


Labour MP Stephen Pound, vice chair of the all party group on the death penalty, said the situation "cannot be over-dramatised".


He said: "A young woman who is now pregnant, is in prison in the most inhumane circumstances, and is facing the death penalty by firing squad."


Earlier a Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are paying close attention to her welfare and are in discussion with the Laotian authorities about her case."


The British Government only learned of Orobator's situation several months after her arrest.


Mr Stafford Smith said the Laotian government's "excuse" was apparently that it did not have a fax machine. There is no British Embassy in Laos and the nearest is in Thailand.




sky-news-video - Sky News Video Player

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(CNN) -- A pregnant British woman jailed in Laos was denied access to a British lawyer who flew out to meet her, a human rights group said Tuesday.

Samantha Orobator, 20, had been facing possible execution by firing squad after she was arrested in August for allegedly carrying about half a kilogram of heroin. Those found guilty of carrying that amount normally face the death penalty, said the lawyer, Anna Morris of Reprieve, a London-based human rights group.


But Orobator will escape the death sentence because she is pregnant, a spokesman for the Laotian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.


The country's criminal law prohibits courts from sentencing pregnant women to death, spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing told CNN. The woman's trial hasn't been scheduled yet, he said, but is likely to happen next week.
Morris went to Laos on Sunday, having been assured she would be able to meet Orobator, Reprieve said.


But so far, she has been refused permission, the group said.


Watch a report on the case »


"Ms. Morris was refused her first visit yesterday, and I am led to understand that the Laotians are now saying that she will not be permitted to visit. This is totally unacceptable," Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said in an open letter to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.



Orobator has not seen a lawyer since she was arrested August 5, allegedly with just over half a kilogram (about a pound) of heroin, according to Reprieve.


That amount of heroin would sell for $80,000 to $150,000 on the streets of New York, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said. London's Metropolitan Police declined to estimate a street value.


Watch a former Laos prison inmate recount jail conditions »


Reprieve has said that Orobator became pregnant in prison, possibly as a result of rape, and that she is due to give birth in September. That would mean Orobator became pregnant in January.


Khenthong agreed that Orobator is five months pregnant.


But he indicated that Orobator might have already been pregnant when she was arrested, and that she lost the first baby while in prison.


He said Orobator declared on the day of her arrest in August that she was two months pregnant by her boyfriend. After she had already been in jail for some time, he said, Orobator asked for medication to cure a vaginal infection, and he believes it caused her to lose the child.


Khenthong said officials are investigating Orobator's pregnancy.


Orobator's mother said she found out about her daughter's pregnancy in January. Jane Orobator told CNN she heard the news from the British Foreign Office, which has been monitoring the case.


There is no British Embassy in Laos; a British vice consul arrived in the country over the weekend, the British Foreign Office said.


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


"I don't know" what she was doing there, she said from her home in Dublin, Ireland. "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 UK 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, 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.


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

(CNN)