Laos denies woman faces execution

Undated photo of Samantha Orobator made available by the charity Reprieve in London today.

A British woman accused of smuggling heroin in Laos will not face the death penalty if convicted because the country’s law bans executing pregnant prisoners.

The trial of Samantha Orobator (20) will not be held until next week so that an appropriate lawyer” can be found to defend her, said Khenthong Nuanthasing of the Lao Foreign Ministry.

Ms Orobator was arrested in August last year at the country’s Wattay airport and charged with trying to smuggle 680 grammes of heroin in her luggage

Anyone caught with more than 500 gramems normally faces a mandatory death penalty.

But a British legal charity said Ms Orobator could still face the death penalty despite reports that the country’s law forbids the execution of pregnant prisoners.

A spokeswoman for legal rights charity Reprieve said it was possible that her trial could be put back until she has given birth, leaving the possibility of a death sentence open.

A lawyer for the group, who flew to travelled to the southeast Asian state yesterday, was today refused access to the prison despite being scheduled to meet with Ms Orobator.

Anna Morris said she received no explanation from the Lao authorities as to why the meeting was cancelled.

Ms Orobator’s Dublin-based mother, Jane Orobotar, has appealed for her daughter’s release.

Ms Orboator, who lives in Castleknock, Dublin, with her three other daughters, said she had no idea why her daughter was in Laos last summer and was shocked to hear of her arrest in late September.

“I’m just down on my knees. They should please have mercy,” she told Sky News yesterday, “No one has been allowed to see her; she has no legal representative.”

Additional reporting PA