Appeal setback for jailed brothers

The brothers have always protested their innocence

Two British brothers jailed for 12 years in Portugal for drug trafficking have lost an appeal against their conviction, the Foreign Office said on Friday.

Andrew and Graham Stow appealed to the country's highest court against their sentence, imposed two years ago.

They were jailed after being found guilty of possessing three tons of cannabis valued at £3m and have already been in custody for almost four years.

Police claimed the brothers brought the drugs into the Algarve port of Faro by dragging them across the seabed behind their boat.

This decision will become final and absolute in two weeks' time

Foreign Office spokesman

The brothers, originally from Milford Haven, west Wales have always protested their innocence.

They were arrested on 17 July 17, 1999.

They initially won a retrial when a court of appeal in the country's capital, Lisbon, quashed their sentences, but the original decision of the court was upheld by judges in July last year.

'Final and absolute'

This was their second appeal, to Portugal's supreme court.

A Foreign Office spokesman said on Friday: "The appeal made to the Supreme Court in Lisbon was unsuccessful.

We shall certainly continue to fight their case

Sarah de Mas, Fair Trials Abroad

"There has been no change to the original sentence of 12 years.

"This decision will become final and absolute in two weeks' time."

The Foreign Office understood the brothers' lawyer was considering taking the matter to the Portugal's constitutional court, he added.

Sarah de Mas, of Fair Trials Abroad, said the only other options were seeking a presidential pardon, or, if possible, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The latter could take as long as six years.

'Terrible time'

Ms de Mas said she was disappointed with the court's decision.

"We don't believe for a moment that these men are guilty of the charges, and the sentences are excessive," she said.

"We shall certainly continue to fight their case."

She added that it had been a "terrible time" for everyone involved since the brothers' arrest, particularly their elderly father Dilwyn, who is in his 70s and has spent thousands of pounds supporting his sons in prison.