Pregnant drug-smuggling Briton will ecape death penalty if convicted

A British woman accused of smuggling heroin in Laos will not face the death penalty if convicted because the country’s law bans executing pregnant prisoners.

The trial of Samantha Orobator will not be held until next week so that an “appropriate lawyer” can be found to defend her, said Khenthong Nuanthasing of the Lao Foreign Ministry.

Orobator was arrested in August last year and charged with trying to smuggle 1.5lbs of heroin in her luggage.

Anyone caught with more than 1.1lbs normally faces a mandatory death penalty.