Samantha Orobator Sentenced to Life in Laotian Prison

Samantha Orobator, a pregnant British woman, plead guilty to drug smuggling in Laos. Previous post here.) While Laotian law would have mandated the death penalty in her case, it also prohibits the execution of pregnant women.

How Orobator became pregnant remains a mystery, although it appears she may have been able to obtain sperm and impregnate herself to avoid the death penalty.

The case appears to be an embarrassment to the Laotian authorities, which also obtained from Orobator a statement that she was not raped and that the father of the child is not a Laotian citizen. “This case is not about babies, it is a case about heroin,” Kenthong Nuanthasing, the country’s chief government spokesman, told the South China Morning Post last month.

“We don’t want the outside world to blame us [for the pregnancy]. That is why we asked her to write a letter to certify that she was not raped and the baby inside her is not a Lao baby . . . She did not have intercourse with any man in prison. There is no male close to her during her time in prison. All the prisoners are women and all the guards are female. Maybe it is a baby from the sky like [the Virgin] Maria.”

If both Laos and Britain agree, she may be transfered to Britain to serve her sentence. The prisoners' rights group Reprieve is campaigning for her transfer.

(Image from the Times Online story.)

2 More Child Offenders to Be Executed in Iran Tomorrow

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From the AIUSA Blog:

Just five days after the execution of child offender Delara Darabi in Iran, the government there is set to kill two more juvenile offenders tomorrow.

This news comes despite widespread international consensus that because of children’s immaturity, impulsiveness, vulnerability and capacity for rehabilitation, their lives should not be written off so permanently – regardless of the severity of the crimes they are convicted.

Amir Khaleqi and Safar Angooti are set to be executed early Wednesday, May 6, at 4 a.m. local time in Evin prison. The scheduling of these executions, just days after killing Delara Darabi, show that the Iranian authorities have total disregard for international law which unequivocally bans the execution of those convicted of crimes committed under the age of 18.

According to their lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaie, Amir Khaleqi killed a man during a fight when he was drunk. Amir does not remember how the incident happened but was so remorseful that he turned himself into the police. He was 16 years old at the time. Amir was eventually convicted, despite the court taking into consideration that he was intoxicated, and a juvenile offender.

Safar Angooti was convicted of murder at age 17. According to the newspaper Etemad, in April 2008, Safar Angooti stabbed a rival suitor who was talking to a girl he liked and was sentenced to death. Safar claimed that he had killed the man but not intentionally. At least 135 other juvenile offenders are also known to be on death row in Iran.

Amnesty members are launching worldwide activities tomorrow in front of Iranian embassies hoping the publicity will stop tomorrow’s possible execution of Amir Khaleqi and Safar Angooti. You can take action right now by sending a message to Iranian authorities demanding an end to the executions of child offenders in Iran.

A post on the execution of Delara Darabi is here.

Pregnant UK Woman May Face Death Penalty in Laos

A lawyer from Reprieve, a UK legal organization that work on the human rights of prisoners, has been given permission to meet with Samantha Orobator, a woman from the UK who is imprisoned in Laos. Orobator is accused or drug smuggling and her trial in Laos is to begin on Monday. She was allegedly in possession of 1.5 lbs of heroin when she was arrested at Wattay airport in Laos last August. In Laos, anyone caught with more than 1lb of heroin faces a mandatory death sentence.

British authories did not learn of her detention until she had already been in jail for months. She became pregnant last December, while imprisoned.

Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said: "This whole process is a farce. The trial is just being put on as a show. They wanted to get it all over with before she was able to see a British lawyer."

Colorado May Abolish the Death Penalty

My home state of Colorado may abolish the death penalty and use the money saved to fund the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's Cold Case Unit.

From the AP Story:

Supporters of the bill say it's more important to find and prosecute killers still on the loose than to execute the ones already convicted.

"The death penalty is not relevant without a murderer brought to trial," said Laurie Wiedeman, the older sister of 17-year-old Gay Lynn Dixon, whose 1982 slaying remains unsolved. "I would like to see the person who killed my sister put to death. But to have that person free to run around and committing other crimes?"

Abolishing Colorado's death penalty would save an estimated $1 million a year that now is spent on prosecutors' time, public defenders' fees and appeals, according to a legislative analysis.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and all but one of the state's district attorneys oppose the bill. Even if the savings were applied to a cold case unit, which Suthers and other said isn't guaranteed by the bill, many cases may remain unsolved.

"I think it's a sad situation," Suthers said. "You have hundreds of ... parents of murdered children, sitting there being led to believe that if they abolish the death penalty in Colorado their child's death will be solved.

"A million dollars doesn't buy you a lot of cold case investigation," he said.

He and other prosecutors say additional DNA testing, including a proposal pending in the Legislature to take samples at the time of a felony arrest, could do more than expanding the state's cold case unit to solve old cases.

Iran Executes Woman Convicted as Minor

Human rights groups today condemned Iran for executing a 23-year-old woman who they maintained received an unfair trial when she was convicted of murder as a juvenile.

Delara Darabi was hanged Friday at Rasht Central Prison, according to Human Rights Watch, which said the woman was 17 when she was coerced into pleading guilty to killing her father's cousin. She later recanted, saying her 19-year-old boyfriend had committed the crime.

"It appears that Iran's head of judiciary has no ability to control even his own judges," said Zama Coursen-Neff, deputy director of the children's rights division at Human Rights Watch. "This is an outrageous violation of Iranian as well as international human rights law, and a callous affront to basic human dignity."

Amnesty International said it was "outraged at the execution of Delara Darabi, and particularly at the news that her lawyer was not informed about the execution, despite the legal requirement that he should receive 48 hours' notice," according to Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of the group's Middle East and North Africa program. "This appears to have been a cynical move on the part of the authorities to avoid domestic and international protests which might have saved Delara Darabi's life."

Background on Delara Darabi is available here.

Darfur Death Sentences

Voice of America has a story about Amnesty International's protest of death sentences handed down to 82 Darfuri men by a Sudanese special court.

Amnesty International is protesting the death sentences handed down to 82 Darfuri men by a Sudanese special court. The men were allegedly involved in a May 2008 attack on the capital, Khartoum, by an armed opposition group based in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement.

Amnesty says the trial and sentencing of the accused men is a breach of international law. It's asking the government to overturn the death sentences. Erwin Zanderborght is director of Africa Programs at Amnesty International. VOA's Chinedu Offor asked him how the organization hopes to pressure the Sudanese government to change its mind.