Story

Mule follows Sodhi (Malaysia) and Faith (Kenya), and other women who were jailed in Asia for drug trafficking.

After having been separated from their families for years, they try to rebuild their lives and give meaning to their experience in prison through activism, while facing judgement from their communities.

Meet our

Documentary Participants

Faith is a mother of six and was told to bring a suitcase with baby food, which contained hidden drugs.  Faith was sentenced to death in Malaysia for smuggling drugs and was released from prison in December 2024 with the help of the Catholic priest Father John Wotherspoon.
The 78-year old Catholic priest Father John Wotherspoon has dedicated the last 30 years to helping foreign prisoners who are jailed in Asia. He runs the non-profit organization Voice for Prisoners and travels the world collecting evidence and maintaining contact with prisoners' families and to warn others about the dangers of drug trafficking.  
Faith is a mother of six and was told to bring a suitcase with baby food, which contained hidden drugs.  Faith was sentenced to death in Malaysia for smuggling drugs and was released from prison in December 2024 with the help of the Catholic priest Father John Wotherspoon.
Sodhi is a single mother of four, who was tricked into smuggling drugs by the promise of a tour guide job in Hong Kong. Never having been able to travel much, she was excited about the opportunity. She was arrested at the airport with 2.9 kilos of cocaine hidden in the suitcase that had been given to her.  She was reunited with her family after 4 years.

The Bigger Picture

The disproportionally high rate of female foreign prisoners in Asia is largely driven by drug syndicates who have targeted vulnerable women. 

Once caught, they serve sentences ranging up to 25 years in prison.

This documentary highlights the critical intersections between gender, crime, and justice.

what experts say about this issue

  • "For too long, gender has been "a blind spot" in our understanding of criminal justice"

    Delphine Lourtau (Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide)

  • Six of the 10 countries with the highest proportions of female prisoners in the world are in Asia

    World Prison Brief Report

  • “While these young people end up in prison for over 20 years in some cases, these big fish get away with it. It’s just awful. And in some cases, they send the mules to countries with the death penalty - it’s like sending them to their deaths!”

    Father John Wotherspoon

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    director

    Maria Cristhin Kuiper

    Maria Cristhin Kuiper is a Dutch-Peruvian documentary filmmaker and journalist covering socio-cultural and political stories. She received a Master of Journalism from the University of Hong Kong, where she specialized in video and documentary filmmaking. She has worked as a video producer for the AFP News Agency in Hong Kong, focusing on Latin American and local news. She is a 2025-2026 Next Playgrounds Fellow.