Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

I really hope so. I hope she takes the consequences of her actions on board. Different if her daughter had been much younger, but these were similarly aged teens. What she did was OTT. Lots of 16 and 17 year olds are sexually active, so if she didn’t want her daughter getting friendly with boys, she should have kept a closer watch on her.

I don’t know why black people should avoid Dubai. Have you actually been it’s the most multicultural place on the planet. Everyone from the four corners of the world is there.

The ignorance on this thread is shocking

Hardly, are you joking? You think UK values are akin to these. I don't think the justice system is arbitrarily applied for a start. There are so many examples of appalling prison conditions and practices and arrests just Google it. The poor young flight attendant who was arrested for a suicide attempt for example.

My moral shock appears to be felt by many on this thread and is commonplace so why do you think that is?

Yes, a 17 yo girl, almost 18, and a 18 yo boy having sex is not unusual. Her parents are ridiculous.

The “villain” in this sorry debacle is the Mother of the girl,what a spiteful vile person she must be.

I was talking to this guy a while back when I did OLD. He had a teen son and was thinking of taking him to Dubai or Spain. He happened to be Black and so was his son. I don’t speak to him anymore but I hope he chose Spain!

I really hope that people learn from this and don’t get mesmerised by all the influencer and tourism Dubai propaganda.

If you have to go there for work,and there’s absolutely no getting out of it - at least read up on all the rules and check out the detained in Dubai blog for an idea of some of the random things people have been detained for.

The mother of the girl was clearly a vindictive nasty person to do this. Probably for the sake of her daughters ‘honour’, despite it being consensual.

Id agree wholeheartedly here - being black or muslim is a completely no go when it comes to non muslim asians. Im in my 40s and even friends i thought most progressive, would never upset their parents by doing this nor would they want their kids to. TBH being muslim is considered the worst option because of historical situations, but black is next worst.

When i said if white, the authorities would be more helpful - its because how many times do we see some sort of blonde drug mule getting freed after intentionally carrying drugs.

I agree with you.

Of course he won't be. 😂

Completely agree it isn’t all of them. Fair point.

My close friend (mixed race black heritage) is actually married to a South Asian man and his family adore her. I also know a Sri Lankan woman married to a Nigerian man and their families were happy.

No but I am pretty sure for this girl’s family that’s exactly the way it is. The ones who ARE racist tend to apply exactly that hierarchy.

When have we rioted in the UK because two foreign teenagers, with a few months between them, had a consensual sexual relationship except one was 16 and the other a few months younger?

That said I agree the UAE authorities could not ignore their law being broken but I think them giving a 1 year sentence reflects what they feel about it (given he faced 20.)

The only villain in this story is the mother.

"As you’ll probably know from being married to an Asian person, the way their hierarchy is set up Black people are way down at the bottom."

Yes, I do know this, but it isn't all of them. Otherwise I would not have married my DH.

This situation is very sad, but having an age of consent is hardly "draconian", and in this case, barely different from our own. In many cases - just as in the UK - the law is observed by nobody reporting its breach. Underage sex is hardly unheard of in the UK, is it? In this case the authorities had a formal complaint and report. They had no choice but to observe their own laws. What kind of outcry would there be in the UK if a "foreigner" was publically accused of breaking one of our laws and nothing was done about it? Ah yes, we hold riots for such things. So much more reasonable, even if the rumour wasn't actually true! The parents of the girl are the ones being draconian and unreasonable here. These "profoundly different values" that we have are only a couple of years different from the UAE; and there have been more than a few debates about increasing the age of consent in the UK.

You need to save your moral shock for countries that is is better applied to - and remember that the UK has not got a sterling record of upholding human rights.

Some people don’t see their racism as racism.

I remember a friend of mine who at the time had a white partner (she was British Indian). Her parents gave her an ultimatum that it is him or them as they would never support her marrying a white man. I and her partner said her parents were racist which outraged her.

The funny thing was her uncle was married to a white woman whose family had disowned her for being with a South Asian man. And she would routinely call her aunt-in-law’s family racist. When I pointed out they were doing nothing different to her parents she insisted that was different.

Ridiculous to suggest it is all tickety boo when it has a shocking record on human rights, when the justice system is so arbitrary and the values of fairness and freedom are of no interest!

Definitely agree with you there, @Goldenbear, and FWIW I'm another who wouldn't go ... but Marcus and his family did, and the risks have bitten them hard

Maybe maybe not.

As you’ll probably know from being married to an Asian person, the way their hierarchy is set up Black people are way down at the bottom.

This applies to both South and East Asians but especially South Asians from what I’ve seen.

So their child dating a white person may be objectionable but a black person (especially if we are talking a Black man) is worse.

You should have a look at all the white prople that been arrested and detained in Dubai - that should quell your ‘theory’

Zero help from the government.

No way. I agree with you. I was replying to @Galatine’s comment asking would people feel still feel the same about the below comment from @VisitationRights if it was their daughter that was “seduced”:

“I wish Dubai would just send him home, they gain nothing keeping him in jail. I really resent the family that reported this to authorities, they are disgusting.”

There are posters on here who, if coughing in public was made illegal with a minimum 6 month jail tariff, would support it on the grounds that "it's the law". Unbelievable rigidity of thought.

We haven't seen them since this happened, which is coming up to 2 years. It is awfully upsetting. We are being as supportive as we can to the son and his partner. I can't get my head round it.

No he won't. Given the age of the girl, what he did was not an offence in the UK so he cannot be added to the sex offenders register. However, if it was an offence in the UK the police could apply to the magistrates court for him to be added.

Yeah this is what really sickens me. Singapore for example is a strict country but it seems the laws are applied more fairly and evenly there and it’s more transparent . Dubai seems extremely unpredictable and massively hypocritical.

The way they treat their non migrant workers is abbhorent if not criminal. They should focus on that!

Has anyone heard they initially registered his nationality as Pakistani? This was allegedly to ensure he got the worst treatment while being detained.

I for one will not be stepping foot in that country. I will even avoid stopovers there. I think I recall story involving someone connecting there on their way back from Turkey who ended up in some trouble too because if a minor disagreement in the airport . It’s just not worth it.

What I'm going on about is the advice by the Foreign Office, I have no intention of visiting the ME let alone living there but where else is a person meant to obtain advice about a country they are visiting with such vastly different values if not the foreign office?

Ridiculous to suggest it is all tickety boo when it has a shocking record on human rights, when the justice system is so arbitrary and the values of fairness and freedom are of no interest!