British woman faces death by firing squad in Laos for drug smuggling

"Inmates say he was taken to the notorious "black hole of Samkhe", an underground punishment cell in Samkhe prison. The jail is renowned for torture. Pro-democracy protesters go there and never come out."

Your source for this is?
Can you name any pro democracy protestors who have gone there and never come out?

The source is in the link:
http://www.guardian....ail-john-watson

A little more of the same from a different source.

"A former prison inmate Laos-American Yerlee Youngkhue said: “Somkhe is a punishment prison. As well as the iron bars prisoners are also shackled with chains weighing 8-22 Kg and they also have stocks.
Prisoners do not get any food unless they work, which is either basket weaving or staving barrels. The more quantity you get, the more food you get.”
http://www.andrew-dr...of-somkhe-laos/

Courtesy of Andrew Drummond who seems to be the main source of information.
http://www.andrew-drummond.com/

This post has been edited by Il Postino: 05 August 2009 - 01:48 AM

I would prefer a more realiable source. Next thing you will be citing Kay Danes.

Vientianeboy, on 05 August 2009 - 01:29 PM, said:

http://www.guardian....ail-john-watson

Watson was taken from the jail by Laotian officials shortly before the arrival of Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant last Tuesday. The officials refuse to tell British diplomats where Watson is.

----------------------------

I do not think, that the guardian is not a reliable source. -

It's better to ask yourself, if Laos can provide any reliable source to explain, why the Laos government is refusing to tell even high ranking diplomats in which prison their criminal citizens are locked up.

With this reluctant behavior against foreign diplomats the Laos government is clearly provoking speculations that the Laos government is hiding something and is avoiding inspection of their prison facilities, despite it is keeping foreign prisoners there.

From CNN

Both prisoners are getting sent back to the UK.

This post has been edited by smilingteacher: 06 August 2009 - 04:10 PM

A pregnant Briton jailed for life in Laos for heroin smuggling has arrived back in the UK.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office was continuing to work for the early transfer of John Watson, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who is also imprisoned in Laos for drug smuggling.

http://news.bbc.co.u.../uk/8188868.stm

I'm only interested in this story because I want to see what happens to Mr. Watson. The whole pregnancy thing was probably his idea. So in effect he is probably responsible for saving this girls life.

This post has been edited by Il Postino: 07 August 2009 - 11:19 PM

Il Postino, on 07 August 2009 - 11:17 PM, said:

He was not released so far. Maybe the Lao goernment changed its mind, and the UK-government anyway does not cae about him and did not care about him.

Maybe he prefers to stay in a Lao prison. Far away from UK-laws.

Should he be released and transferred back to UK, he will face soon an invoice from the Social Department, asking him to pay child-support for the next 18 years or so - or facing even a false rape allegation. Who knows?

Quote

She might however still choose abortion or adoption to save him from bills after his release, but I doubt that.
I read not a single word in her released statements and from statements of her relatives, that she is thankful to him.

I am not very optimistic. I do not think, she will care much about him.

"I do not think, that the guardian is not a reliable source. - "

I think that independent journalists are an unreliable source. You also have still not cited the names of any of the pre democracy demonstrators you claimed are regularly locked up in prison. You only named one ex prisoner.

Why don't you give us some reliable sources then?
You should know more about the subject than us.

This post has been edited by Il Postino: 11 August 2009 - 05:33 PM

Vientianeboy, on 10 August 2009 - 11:20 AM, said:

I think, foreign independent journalists, who try to collect some 'outsider/insider' information about Laos are still much more reliable than local state-controlled journalists who have to write only what the communist Laos government officials like to read.

At least Guardian is printing its own opinion, and does not act as a 'government information center' - if you cannot get enough information out of reclusive governments, you have to use such sources like independent journalists using Western newspapers for publishing their articles. What else can you do?

Well, I suppose you have a point. Unless you are here and talk to people in the know. However I have yet to see the names of these so called dissidents in gaol here, who were mentioned in an earlier post.

Now Kay Danes is mentioned as a source of information. Anyone who has been here for a few years knows the Kay Danes story. She wrote a book, half of which was pure bullshit and slandered the Laos Government and profited on the results. The money which was stolen from Laos while her husband was in "charge of security" still has not been recovered. Half the people mentioned in her work of fiction do not even exist. Now she runs the who runs the Foreign Prisoners Support Service - a total joke organisation which relies on innuendoes, half truths and outright lies .

The nonsense they wrote about Orabator was a joke - they claimed she was raped. Absolute crap! A statement she denies herself. I complained to them and they could not even be bothered answering.

Kay Danes is quoted as a key source of information in Drummond's article. Has he done any research at all into her credentials? I doubt it. That is why I am so scathing about foreign independent journalists.

This post has been edited by Vientianeboy: 12 August 2009 - 08:31 PM

Il Postino, on 07 August 2009 - 11:17 PM, said:

I wonder, what happened to him, he is still in a Laos prison I guess.

After the release of the guy in Myanmar, and the two female journalists in North Korea, and the release of the black UK woman from Laos....

Maybe forgotten again...???

I cannot find anything in the Western press, and Laos government information consist of nothing but some political statements.

http://www.guardian....gnant-laos-jail

This is the last notice about him, link above.

A second British prisoner, John Watson, 47, remains in custody in the country. Reports have suggested he smuggled his sperm to Orobator to make her pregnant and save her life. Bryant said he was concerned for Watson's health. Watson was transferred from Phonthong prison some time ago, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said, but "the Lao authorities have not given us information as to where he is being held". Human rights campaigners fear that he may have been transferred to a notorious prison as a punishment.

British officials have received assurances that he will also be transferred into British custody "in the very near future". Watson was arrested in 2003 and is serving life for trafficking amphetamines, which carries a lesser sentence than heroin.

This post has been edited by yohan: 16 August 2009 - 12:40 AM

Not strictly on topic but I'll put it here anyway. Some interesting statistics:

One in seven Britons arrested abroad held over drug allegations, says Foreign Office:
http://www.guardian....ugs-allegations

No news of Mr. Watson, he's still in the dungeon I guess.

http://www.guardian....rests-passports

Some statistics are also here,

and about Mr. Watson in Laos, I think, forgotten already....

Not even mentioned in these 2 links, but they mention 2 girls in 2007 with drugs in Ghana...

Lawyers representing a pregnant British woman convicted of drug smuggling in Laos have demanded her release, calling her trial there "a sham".

Clare Algar, from Reprieve, said: "As a vulnerable young woman far from home, Samantha was exploited by a government determined to convict her. We hope the British government recognises that Samantha's life must not be thrown away simply to placate that regime."

http://news.bbc.co.u.../uk/8222438.stm

Meanwhile:

The sister of a sick Briton serving a life sentence for drug smuggling in Laos has pleaded for him to be allowed to complete his term in a UK prison. She said she understood the Laos authorities would not allow her brother home until he had paid a £19,000 fine.

"We're just a normal working family. There's no way we can get that amount of money."
http://news.bbc.co.u.../uk/8220144.stm

I'm not judging anybody or anything here. I'm just interested in the differing treatment of each individual. It seems that nobody is willing to put up the £19,000 for our man while she's got the whole circus working for her. Mind you I don't know many working families who wouldn't be able to get £19000 together if they decided it was urgent enough. Smells fishy.

"Prisoner Transfer Agreements enable prisoners to serve sentences, imposed abroad, in their own country. Under these agreements the receiving state undertakes to continue to enforce the sentence imposed by the sentencing state. Without these agreements British nationals would be required to continue serving their sentence in prisons abroad."

Life imprisonment. Depends what you mean by life I guess.

This post has been edited by Il Postino: 27 August 2009 - 06:00 AM

Il Postino, on 27 August 2009 - 05:50 AM, said:

This is 50/50 really.

I would not call GBP 19000,- to be a small sum at all, especially not in Laos - for what is this fine? Or is this a bribe to speed up the procedure?

And how many family members has this Mr. Watson? only his sister?
I am not sure, how many UK-families (what is a family btw...in the UK?) have GBP 19000,- ready to give-away, even if it is very very urgent, really...

yohan, on 16 August 2009 - 12:40 AM, said:

http://www.phaseloop...ohn_watson.html

Nothing to find in the news about him, it seems he is still in prison.

http://www.phaseloop...ael-newman.html

Another one is also in a Laos prison? For drugs and strange businesses according to this website.

Maybe also forgotten.

http://www.usp.com.a...ews-uk106.html8

Quote

It seems he died...


http://www.usp.com.a...ohn_watson.html

But John Watson is still alive there in the Lao prison.

It seems nobody cares anymore much about him.

This post has been edited by yohan: 09 December 2009 - 10:01 PM