Death penalty for a pregnant Nigerian girl

  1. Posted on Tuesday 5 May 2009 - 10:45
    KingsleyKobo
    Image of KingsleyKobo
    Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
    A five months pregnant Nigeria-born Briton, Samantha Orobator, 20, will face execution if found guilty at a hastily arranged trial in Laos next week, according to reports. She was arrested at Wattay Airport in Laos last August for allegedly possessing 600g of heroin while on holiday travels.
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    She became pregnant in jail and due to deliver in September, but a death sentence next week would change all.

    Britain’s Foreign Office has said it was working to ensure lawyers have access to the young woman. “We are providing consular assistance to Miss Orobator, in particular to help ensure that she has good legal representation. We are paying close attention to her welfare and are in regular contact with the Laotian authorities about her case,” Foreign Office Minister, Bill Rammel, had said, according to the Nigeria News Agency.

    Rammel also revealed that British embassy officials have visited Samantha six times since her arrest and Australian embassy officials have also visited her ten times. Rammel further said he would be discussing the issue with Laotian Deputy Prime Minister when they meet in the UK on Thursday.

    But Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve director, said the trial will be over by the time the two diplomats meet. He believes the trial had been brought forward by a year in an apparent attempt to hinder Samantha from seeing a lawyer.

    Calling on the British government to immediately act to save the life of the expectant mother, Smith also questions how she could have become pregnant in jail.

    Samantha has been held since her arrest at the notorious Phonthong prison, where inmates have complained of being beaten and abused.

    She was born in Nigeria but moved with her parents to England at the age of eight and had since become a British citizen. She was a medical student at Kingston University.

Reactions

  1. Posted on Tuesday 05 May 2009 23:30
    aynnichelle
    Image of aynnichelle


    5 berichten
    Lid sinds May 2009

    I think that girl should not be killed while pregnanat, but iagree she be killed after she has her baby. I also wonder how could you have a baby in jail. {she should be in a womens jail}
  2. Posted on Monday 18 May 2009 06:38
    ChiomaNgozi
    Image of ChiomaNgozi


    1 berichten
    Lid sinds May 2009

    She should not be killed even if she is guilty. Someone bigger than her in the drug business should be sought after for criminal charges. And it is very easy to become pregnant in jail. Do not be naive, women and men are raped in jail everyday in every corner of the world. There is no justice even when justice is what is being sought.

    She is a scapegoat for bigger criminals including governments all over the world that look the other way while drugs are being brought into their country or even harvested in their country as a national product!!!! Even in a woman's prison there are men in very good position to take advantage of the women who are incarcerated. What planet are you from?

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