VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) - A court in Laos found a pregnant British woman guilty of trafficking heroin and sentenced her to life in prison yesterday, a court official said.

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

Orobator pleaded guilty, the court official said at a press briefing after the trial, adding that she 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 Lao law does not allow the execution of pregnant women, said Chanthaly.

Under a pact signed last month by Laos and Britain that still needs ratification, Orobator could be extradited to serve her time in Britain. Lao officials, however, could still veto her return.
Orobator had been jailed since last August, but her plight drew public attention only last month after the British legal charity Reprieve publicised her circumstances and what they 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. Lao officials have asserted that she may have artificially inseminated herself while behind bars.

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