Laos expects to extradite pregnant British convict next month

Jul 29, 2009, 6:04 GMT

   Bangkok - A pregnant British national who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Lao court in June on drug trafficking charges is expected to be extradited to the United Kingdom early next month to serve out her jail term there, a Lao official confirmed on Wednesday.

   'We signed an extradition agreement between England and Laos two days ago and are now just awaiting the official request from London to extradite Samantha Orobator,' Lao Foreign Ministry press division chief Bounmee Wanmanee said.   

   A Lao court on June 3 sentenced Orobator to life in prison for drug trafficking, reduced from the death penalty on account of the defendant's pregnancy.

   An extradition agreement between Laos and Britain was signed in London, allowing jail inmates of both countries to serve out their sentences at home.

   Orobator is expected to be the first prisoner to be extradited under the agreement, with her departure expected to take place in the first week of August, Bounmee said in a telephone interview with the German Press Agency dpa.

   'We are a bit worried about her health because she is very pregnant and it might be dangerous for her to travel,' Bounmee said.

   Another British national, John Watson, also jailed on drug trafficking charges, may also be extradited under the agreement.

   'We are not sure whether he will be extradited at the same time as Orobator,' Bounmee said.

   Orobator, 20, was arrested while boarding a plane in Vientiane last August with 680 grams of heroin allegedly hidden beneath her clothes.

   In Laos, the maximum sentence for drug trafficking is death by firing squad. But under Lao law, a pregnant woman is exempt from capital punishment.

   At her trial, Orobator pleaded guilty.

   Details about Orobator's arrest, prison pregnancy and trial have been difficult to obtain in communist Laos, which maintains strict controls over the press.

   Little is known about what led Orobator, a Nigerian-born British citizen described by friends as extremely bright with ambitions to become a doctor, to fly to Thailand and then to Laos where she spent five days before her arrest at Wattaya Airport on August 5.