ITN (Independent Television News )http://itn.co.uk/
Tue May 5 2009
A pregnant British woman who could face death by firing squad in Laos has been visited by a UK official, but the lawyer who flew out to advise her was refused access.
Samantha Orobator, 20, from south London is due to go on trial accused of smuggling 1.5lb of heroin. She has been in jail since her arrest in August 2008 and is now five months pregnant.
The Foreign Office said the British vice-consul from Thailand had been allowed into Phonthong prison to speak to her.
But Anna Morris, a lawyer from the legal rights charity Reprieve, said her meeting with Orobator was cancelled without explanation, preventing her from seeing how she is being treated in prison.
Officials in the south-east Asian country said her trial will be held this week, and insisted it would be fair.
Her mother, Jane Orobator, who lives in Dublin, has appealed for her release. She said: "I just want them to bring her back to me. I'm really terrified. I have been crying my eyes out."
1 comment:
Laos, like a lot of poor countries, has very harsh punishment for drug smugglers. This is understandable and just. Drug smuggling corrupts socieities and leaves drug addicts to suffer. Laos is poor and can't afford to treat drug addicts.
Ms. Orobator is from a comfortable, wealthy background in England. She chose to go to a foreign country and commit a crime. She should pay the price. Drug smuggling hurts so many people that executing smugglers is justice.
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