Legal help for Briton in Laos jail

May 5 2009

A UK official and lawyer has flown to Laos to offer a pregnant British woman being held in jail support and advice.

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

She faces death by firing squad if convicted of drug smuggling.

Officials in Laos insisted she will get a fair trial but campaigners are concerned about her legal rights and wellbeing.

There is no British embassy in Laos and the nearest is in neighbouring Thailand. The British vice-consul from Bangkok, who flew to Laos on Sunday to check on Orobator, was due to meet her on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: "He will be seeing her today to provide consular assistance. It will be in the way we would normally give it - to see about her welfare and wellbeing and to work towards ensuring she has proper legal advice and proper medical care."

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

Anna Morris, a lawyer for legal rights charity Reprieve, also flew into Laos on Sunday. She said she was concerned that Orobator, who is five months pregnant, had not been assigned a defence lawyer.

"She hasn't been appointed a lawyer yet and that has been our concern," she said. "We are concerned that any hearing may be quite quick in comparison to what will happen in other countries."

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.