Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

That poor lad will be in real danger. That girl's mother is a nasty, vindictive piece of work. Racism figures very highly in this whole thing. Shameful.
Yes I would have told my sons about the laws in Dubai, but this lad's parents may not have known. They must be absolutely frantic.

He broke the law. I don’t see what the outrage is for

An 18 yo is an adult and he's an adult man.

You are being ridiculous surely you see that. He is barely an adult. Do you genuinely think that there is something disturbing about an 18 year old and a 17 year old having a fling?

Or that a three month age gap makes for a material difference in maturity?

Bloody hell. The hate for UAE is so sttong that people argue that getting nicked after having sex with under age of consent person is wrong

An 18 yo is an adult and he's an adult man.

Why are you calling him a man?

He was an 18 year old teen who had a consensual sexual fling with a 17 year old girl. The mother after attempting to make a false allegation of sexual assault instead reported him for this because she was vindictive.

To be clear all involved are British so she would be well aware that had it happened in the UK it would be fine. She was mad that her darling daughter was consensually “defiled” and wanted to make him pay. And you don’t understand why she is facing vitriol?

One piece of luck, they abolished flogging in 2020.

Marcus Fakana, of Tottenham, north London, began the secretive holiday romance in September with another Londoner, who is now aged 18.
After returning home and seeing pictures and chats, the girl's mother reported the relationship to Dubai police, who then arrested Fakana at his hotel. Sex with another person aged under 18 is illegal in Dubai.

I'm not sure that means mother was unclear about reporting - seems extreme to me as UK citizen to report to anther countries police.

Some posters here are saying girls mother is from Dubai so she'd be really clear what reporting would do - but I've not read that in press so no idea what the mother or girls background is or how clear or unclear the mother was at cons.

Though hindsight 20/20 her sneaking round so much should probably been a warning if not to the boy then to his parents.

Why are you calling him a man?

He was an 18 year old teen who had a consensual sexual fling with a 17 year old girl. The mother after attempting to make a false allegation of sexual assault instead reported him for this because she was vindictive.

To be clear all involved are British so she would be well aware that had it happened in the UK it would be fine. She was mad that her darling daughter was consensually “defiled” and wanted to make him pay. And you don’t understand why she is facing vitriol?

You can hold hands in public. Do it with husband as often as we would in the UK. No issues. Recently seen a change in some younger Emirati couples will also hold hands.

I think the woman who was drunk got arrested because she was abusive to the immigration staff as well as being drunk.

They went for a family reunion, ignorance isn't often a defense. Honestly out of all of the awful things that happen in that country it's quite telling people are most disgusted and outraged about a man being arrested for this, and the accusations and outrage towards the girls mother is really weird.

Oh come on, it’s pathetic that a country would do this! I’m just shocked that anyone still visits the place.

They went for a family reunion, ignorance isn't often a defense. Honestly out of all of the awful things that happen in that country it's quite telling people are most disgusted and outraged about a man being arrested for this, and the accusations and outrage towards the girls mother is really weird.

It also sounds like the mother of the girl was hazy about the consequences of reporting this in Dubai.

They went for a family reunion, ignorance isn't often a defense. Honestly out of all of the awful things that happen in that country it's quite telling people are most disgusted and outraged about a man being arrested for this, and the accusations and outrage towards the girls mother is really weird.

The offence in Dubai is under age sex.

She's above the age of criminal responsibility there, and she broke the law by consenting to extramarital sex. The person who they have extramarital sex with is also committing an offence.

It is not the same as UK. That is why the UK comparison is worthless here.

You absolutely can't hold hands in public, not according to UK Foreign Office, why would you spout falsehoods, very irresponsible of you.

The drinking is very very ambiguous and I personally wouldn't gamble my freedom on a drink like the person who got arrested on the Emirates flight.

The age of consent in Dubai is 18. He broke the law.

The age of consent is 18 in lots of countries. It's 17 in Ireland too, although there are some countries with a lower age of consent than Britain's 16.

Imagine if some foreign teenager had sex with a British child of 15. Do you really think the British authorities, let alone the Press, would just let them off?

An 18 year old probably didn’t appreciate that strict meant they had what would be seen as an extremely outdated view in Europe and could result in a custodial sentence- to European eyes it’s so fucking ludicrous I wouldn’t anticipate any 18 year old would think that this would be the consequence.

Why anyone chooses to holiday in these places where a slight misstep can get all manner of medieval sentences (by European standards) god only knows.