Samantha Orobator

Pregnant 20 year-old Londoner Samantha Orobator was facing execution in Laos but after a brief 'show trial' was given a life sentence due to her condition. On 7th August 2009 she was transferred back to the UK and is currently being held at HMP Holloway. Her child is due to be born in less than a month.

Reprieve is delighted that Samantha has returned to the UK where she can give birth in safety. However, we will continue to fight against her conviction and continued imprisonment. Samantha was denied her basic legal rights and the British government should not uphold either her conviction or her sentence.

"I am enormously relieved and happy to be back on British soil. It has been an unimaginable nightmare.  I would like to thank all those who were involved in my return, including various British government officials, for their efforts on my behalf, and for their support.  Meanwhile I would be grateful for a little peace as this has been a very traumatic experience both for me, and for my unborn child." - Samantha Orobator (7th August 2009).

Samantha's arrest and imprisonment:

Samantha was arrested in Wattay Airport, Laos, in August 2008 and charged with carrying 0.68 kg of heroin. She denies the drugs were hers. Samantha’s close friends have told Reprieve that Samantha has never used drugs, and she has no prior criminal convictions in the UK. Samantha’s former teachers recall her as friendly and intelligent and confirmed she was never involved in drugs or any kind of trouble at school.

Reprieve learned of Samantha's plight on January 6th 2009, after several months of detention. In coordination with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a legal visit for Reprieve counsel Anna Morris was confirmed for Tuesday May 5th.

On Thursday April 30th, the Lao Government suddenly announced that Samantha would be tried the following week - possibly in order to forestall Reprieve’s intervention.

On May 4th, following international media attention, the trial was put on hold until the Lao government could determine the paternity of Samantha's baby, despite its blatant irrelevance to her trial.

Samantha was held in deplorable prison conditions for twelve months and is now eight months pregnant. It is indisputable that Samantha became pregnant four months after her arrest but Reprieve cannot confirm how she conceived.

There have been reports of serious abuse of prisoners in Phongthong prison. Former prisoners have reported they were beaten and intimidated and that other prisoners had their genitals burned in front of them. British national Michael Newman died in Phongthong last year after he was denied medication and French national Francis Prasak died in the prison in January 2001 from a suspected heart attack. Other prisoners described how their desperate requests to the prison guards for help were ignored. British national John Watson remains in Laos. He has recently been transferred from Phonthong, and Reprieve is seriously concerned for his wellbeing.

During her detention, Samantha was continually threatened with the death penalty, despite Article 32 of the Lao Penal Law forbidding the imposition of the death penalty on a pregnant woman. Samantha was forced to sign numerous conflicting statements about the father of her baby - she was told her trial would not take place until she had signed these statements.

A 'show trial':

Finally, at a brief trial on the 3rd of June, Samantha was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

At her trial, Samantha was denied the basic rights of a fair hearing. She met her lawyer (appointed by the Lao Government) only once before the trial, and never alone. He did not take any witness statements, make any investigations, or commission any expert reports.

Samantha was only questioned by the prosecution and not by the defence. She was the only witness. Despite being five months pregnant, she was made to stand whilst giving evidence for 35 minutes. The lawyer for the prosecution asked the court to still give Samantha the death penalty, in spite of her pregnancy, because she had brought 'bad publicity' to the country.  

It is Reprieve's belief that the trial was merely a sham, and that the verdict and sentence had been decided far in advance. 

"To call the Lao legal proceedings a kangaroo court would be an offence to the kangaroo family. The Lao government consistently violated Samantha's rights, including coercing her into signing statements by witholding her right to a trial. she was at no point allowed confidential access to independent legal counsel, and was prevented from defending herself in court. How can we justify throwing someone in prison when we don't even know the basic facts of the case?" - Clive Stafford Smith, Director of Reprieve

After significant delay on the part of the Lao government, a "Memorandum of Understanding" was signed between the Lao and UK governments, allowing Samantha to transfer back to the UK in order to serve the rest of her sentence. She was flown home on the 7th August 2009 and was taken to HMP, Holloway.

Reprieve is now attempting to secure for Samantha the legal due process she was denied in Laos.