Op-Ed: Laos officials say imprisonment of Brit about heroin not babies

UK citizen Samantha Orobator is still being held in a Laos prison awaiting her trial date. She is weeks away from giving birth to the baby conceived in prison.

It was last year on August 5th that Nigeria born UK citizen Samantha Orobator’s life came crashing down around her. Samantha had travelled to Thailand and then on to Laos for five days when she was arrested in Wattaya airport, Vientiane with the alleged Possession of 680 grams of heroin, over the statutory amount to face the death penalty in Laos. What started out to be a straight forward case of a young foreign woman with what appeared to be brazen stupidity in carrying drugs on an International flight, said to be heading to Australia has instead brought harsh light of international scrutiny on a controlling and secret government regime. Communist officials in South East Asia could do without this political case looming over their heads. Pregnancy In March this year, 8 months after her incarceration it became known that Samantha Orobator was pregnant although the Laos government insist that she is being held in an all female prison with only female guards. The government refuse to say how the 20 year old became pregnant but are adamant that “it is impossible she was raped, or made pregnant by a prison guard” defying logic by insisting she was already pregnant when she was arrested even though she had two pregnancy tests done upon her arrest. Last year Samantha maintained that she was pregnant and after two tests performed by officials both were found negative. If she were pregnant upon incarceration she would have had the baby two months ago. The Vientiane Times, a Laos based newspaper reports.

“This case is not difficult because everything is clear as she was in possession of the drug and all the evidence was on her body” Police Lieutenant Col. Khamphonh Slhaphancha says. “The problem now is her pregnancy so we need more time to investigate”.

Samantha was forced to sign a statement declaring she had not been raped and that the Father of the baby was not from Laos shortly after her pregnancy was confirmed in March. When asked how it was possible for her to become pregnant in jail with no contact with males, chief government spokesman Kenthons Nuanthasing simply raised his eyebrows to the ceiling and proclaimed “Maybe it is a baby from the sky like [the Virgin] Mary”. A French former inmate who spent 5 months in Phonthong prison over a business dispute, where Samantha is being held says that there are male and female blocks to the prison, with male officers who live in staff quarters on the prison premises with the female guards.

“I was not surprised when I heard that Samantha Orobartor was pregnant, I knew it must have been a prison guard who got her pregnant. When I was there the guards would coerce the inmates and tell them that they could get them off the death penalty or a lesser sentence or even make life easier for them when they were inside.”

Laos officials originally claimed that Samantha would face death by firing squad but it is against Laos law to put a pregnant woman to death penalty. Nuanthasing made it clear that in order to return to Britain to be sentenced in a UK jail she was expected to confirm at her trial that the statement she signed in prison was the truth. “She will tell the court – otherwise she will stay here, her court case will be dissolved.” The Trial Samantha’s trial was thought to have been brought forward to the beginning of May, she had not had access to a UK lawyer and it was only after demanding access numerous times that Human rights lawyer Anna Morris, on behalf of legal rights charily Reprieve had the opportunity to see her only for a short period of time. It is now the beginning of July and the media nor the government are yet to inform the public of the outcome, or if the trial has taken place. It is thought that the trial, if and when it does take place will be behind closed doors and Samantha, after her pregnancy will return to Britain. However, Nuanthasing said that the threat of a death penalty could still be invoked and she is only exempt when pregnant. The delay of the trial is worrying; it could mean that the trial could be after she gives birth, which is only a matter of weeks now, allowing her to be legally put forth for the death penalty. “Nobody can guarantee she will not face the firing squad” Nuanthasing insists when reported by Reprieve. Samantha’s Mother, Jane who lives in Dublin was given permission to visit her Daughter if Laos Government officials attended the meeting. After the meeting Jane issued a statement saying that her Daughter had said that she had not been raped and the Father was not a guard; she refused to say who the Father was. It was hoped that the statement would help speed up the process of the trial and deportation. Regardless to the reasons this young girl is in a foreign prison notorious for its poor hygiene and inhumane processions. She is pregnant, alone and has little access to UK government or law officials. Should the UK not be doing more to help this girl, it is now a Human Rights case. She has been impregnated in prison, and the Laos government do not seem to want to know about this. “The case is not about babies, it is about heroin," a statement proclaimed numerous times by Laos officials. I feel, as a UK citizen that if more isn’t done to protect the girl’s human rights then it may be too late.