A 34-year-old Salvadoran woman serving a 30-year sentence for a stillbirth has had her appeal rejected in court.
Teodora del Carmen Vásquez was convicted of aggravated homicide in 2007 after giving birth to a stillborn child.
Authorities accused Ms Vásquez of having had an abortion, an act considered a crime under any circumstance - even rape - in El Salvador.
Last week she appeared before a court to fight for her freedom, but her appeal was rejected today.
Supporters broke down in tears outside the court in San Salvador, El Salvador, when the verdict was announced.
Amnesty International Norway has been campaigning on behalf of Ms Vásquez, and had previously expressed concern that she as to appear before the same judges who sentenced her ten years ago.
'It is deeply tragic, and very unjust,' Ina Strom, spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said after the ruling, which provoked condemnation from human rights groups.
The traumatic stillbirth took place in 2007, and Ms Vásquez, already mother to a young son, was heavily pregnant when she started experiencing labour pains while at work.
She called emergency services, but shortly afterwards her waters broke and she escaped into a toilet where she passed out from the pain.
She gave birth while unconscious and when she came to, she discovered that her baby daughter had been stillborn.
Authorities were called to the scene and she was arrested and accused of having had an abortion.
Ms Vásquez was charged with aggravated homicide. Unable to afford a good defence lawyer, she was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
For the past ten years, Ms Vásquez has been incarcerated at the Ilopango prison on the outskirts of San Salvador, capital of El Salvador.
Her son Ángel, now 13, has been unable to visit her.
It is thought that she will return to the prison to serve the remaining 20 years of her sentence.
Salvadoran mother jailed for stillbirth loses her appeal | Daily Mail Online
Teodora del Carmen Vásquez was convicted of aggravated homicide in 2007 after giving birth to a stillborn child.
Authorities accused Ms Vásquez of having had an abortion, an act considered a crime under any circumstance - even rape - in El Salvador.
Last week she appeared before a court to fight for her freedom, but her appeal was rejected today.
Supporters broke down in tears outside the court in San Salvador, El Salvador, when the verdict was announced.
Amnesty International Norway has been campaigning on behalf of Ms Vásquez, and had previously expressed concern that she as to appear before the same judges who sentenced her ten years ago.
'It is deeply tragic, and very unjust,' Ina Strom, spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said after the ruling, which provoked condemnation from human rights groups.
The traumatic stillbirth took place in 2007, and Ms Vásquez, already mother to a young son, was heavily pregnant when she started experiencing labour pains while at work.
She called emergency services, but shortly afterwards her waters broke and she escaped into a toilet where she passed out from the pain.
She gave birth while unconscious and when she came to, she discovered that her baby daughter had been stillborn.
Authorities were called to the scene and she was arrested and accused of having had an abortion.
Ms Vásquez was charged with aggravated homicide. Unable to afford a good defence lawyer, she was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
For the past ten years, Ms Vásquez has been incarcerated at the Ilopango prison on the outskirts of San Salvador, capital of El Salvador.
Her son Ángel, now 13, has been unable to visit her.
It is thought that she will return to the prison to serve the remaining 20 years of her sentence.
Salvadoran mother jailed for stillbirth loses her appeal | Daily Mail Online
