by Robin Millard
LONDON, Aug 7, 2009 (AFP) - A heavily pregnant Briton, sentenced to life behind bars in Laos for drugs trafficking, landed back in London on Friday to give birth and serve out the rest of her sentence.
Samantha Orobator, 20, flew back into Heathrow airport, where she was met by police and taken to Holloway Prison, a north London women's jail, as her lawyers blasted her "disgraceful 'show trial' conviction".
Wearing a white knitted hat, Orobator seemed in high spirits as she was escorted away.
Orobator pleaded guilty to smuggling heroin and would have faced the death penalty in Laos had she not been pregnant.
Due to give birth within weeks, she was handed over to officials from Britain's Ministry of Justice in Laos and flown home via Bangkok.
The Foreign Office has said Orobator would "serve out her sentence in Britain".
However, her lawyers Reprieve, a legal charity which fights human rights cases, said it would be "truly shocking" for Britain to enforce her conviction.
"To call the Lao legal proceedings a kangaroo court would be an offence to the kangaroo family," said Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith.
"The Lao government consistently violated Samantha's legal rights, including coercing her into signing statements by withholding her right to a trial.
"She was at no point allowed confidential access to independent legal counsel, and was prevented from defending herself in court.
"How can we justify throwing someone in prison when we don't even know the basic facts of the case?"
Orobator was arrested last August at the Lao capital Vientiane's Wattay airport, trying to board a plane to Thailand.
In June, a Vientiane court convicted her of trafficking 680 grammes (1.5 pounds) of heroin.
Normally, anyone found with more than 500 grammes of heroin faces execution but the Lao government gave assurances to Britain that a pregnant woman would not receive the death penalty.
Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant welcomed her return.
"Of course we do not condone any crimes involving illegal drugs," he said, but "the transfer means that Samantha will give birth in the United Kingdom, close to her relatives and under UK medical care."
"This is clearly the best outcome for all -- not least her unborn child."
It remains unclear how Orobator became pregnant while in jail but her mother Jane said in late May that her daughter was not sexually assaulted in prison and that the father of her unborn child was not a Lao prison official.
The Vientiane Times newspaper quoted unnamed police as saying Orobator had allegedly admitted impregnating herself with the sperm of another prisoner "to avoid the death penalty".
Last week, Britain and Laos signed an agreement paving the way for the transfer of Orobator.
The two sides had already signed a prisoner transfer agreement in May.
But as it was taking time to put the measure into effect, a special memorandum of understanding was signed to allow Orobator to leave while she was still physically able to fly, British officials said.
