Laos gives Briton life term

A court in Laos found a pregnant British woman guilty of trafficking heroin and sentenced her Wednesday to life in prison, a court official said.

The sentencing of 20-year-old Samantha Orobator came after a one-day trial in the Laotian capital, according to Chanthaly Duangvilai, vice president of the Vientiane Court.

Orobator pleaded guilty, the court official said at a news briefing after the trial, adding that she had named several of her alleged accomplices in her testimony.

She was the only defendant in the case.

Heroin trafficking is punishable by death, but she was spared because Laotian law forbids execution of pregnant women, Chanthaly said.

Under a pact signed last month by Laos and Britain that still needs ratification, Orobator could be extradited to serve her time in Britain. Laotian officials, however, could still veto her return.

Orobator had been jailed since August, but her plight drew public attention only last month after the British legal charity Reprieve publicized her circumstances and what it believed was the possibility she could be executed by firing squad if found guilty.

The case attracted particular interest because Orobator became pregnant while incarcerated.