[Tlc] L-human rights/prisoner

[justinm at ucr.edu]

FYI.
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justin


2009-0522 - The Sun - Pregnant Brit's lie causes delay

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2444088/Pregnant-Brits-lie-causes-delay.html

Pregnant Brit's lie causes delay

By STAFF REPORTER

Published: 22 May 2009
A PREGNANT Brit held on drugs charges in Laos will not face trial until she has told the truth about her baby's father.

Samantha Orobator will now stay behind bars after the case was postponed by the Laos Government.

The 20-year-old has been told she's got little chance of returning to the UK until she comes clean about who got her pregnant in the notorious Phonthong Prison for Foreigners in the capital Vientiane.

And now prisoners, including a 47-year-old Brit serving a life sentence for drugs trafficking, face the spotlight.

The Britain John Albert Watson, from Halifax, West Yorks, was Samantha's closest friend in the prison after she was sent there last August.

>From the prison he has denied having sex with Samantha claiming: "It's impossible. I could not have done it. How could I have got to her?"

But a denial by the Laos authorities that there is free association between the sexes in the prison appears to be not totally frank.

Pics taken inside the prison show men and women are only separated by a flimsy wire fence.

Probe

Laos authorities have not ruled out the fact that Samantha may have impregnated herself with another prisoner's sperm to avoid the mandatory death sentence.

And after a blanket denial this week, through her mother Jane Orobator, that she was raped or had sex with a prison guard, Laos authorities have said they they have been compelled to investigate her pregnancy, as she had lied to them about it.

Drug Control Department Director, of the Minister of Public Security, Police Lt Col Khamphonh Sihaphancha said: "Everything will be postponed until everything is made clear."

"We will solve this case as soon as possible," he said, adding that Samantha had claimed she was sick and pregnant by a boyfriend in England last September.

Samantha, from Camberwell, South London, was arrested at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane on August 5, 2008, on her way to Sydney, Australia.

She had 680 grammes of heroin, contained in 68 capsules, hidden in different parts of her body.

Lt Col Khamphonh revealed, after details of her case were sent to the prosecutor last November, she was visited by an Aussie doctor seven times for health checks.

On each occasion the doctor passed security checks by prison guards.

Thai authorities at first even suspected the doctor as being the culprit but now officials have been forced to look for the suspect among the prisoners.

Watson's mum Pat is reported to have admitted she received a message three months ago telling her she would be a grandmother again.

She had allegedly described her son as being ecstatic and reported that male and female prisoners freely associated during the day.

Watson, who was jailed for trafficking in methamphetamines, has two children by a previous girlfriend. But they have been estranged since his arrest nearly four years ago, also at Wattay airport.

"Our challenge is to continue our search into the matter," Lt Col Khamphonh said.

The Laos authorities' belief that Samantha could have impregnated herself with another man's sperm has been fuelled because she had a syringe amongst her personal possessions, allegedly because she had "woman's problems".

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Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu