Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

Still- we only know what his family reports.

British High Commission hadn’t clarified their role and if they acted without knowing full facts. Like, are they the ones who introduced nationality as Pakistan … because they didn’t have correct info. Because nature of the crime, public will likely never know.

Girl family version of events - we don’t know what mother of minor child understood to have happened and the content of the phone messages. Possible that it was very inflammatory & upsetting. Not all hugs and kisses. There have been reports … but they are from MF family. Everything has been “poor little boy, & consent”. Girl on birth control (so this means consent? Perhaps it’s for medical reasons. Maybe she needed “morning after pill” which tells as mother story) Public have no idea if this is even true.

IMO - there is more to know than poor little boy, consent, days from birthday, already sexually active, bad mum.

The facts … lead to his conviction & incarceration. Selling your story to tabloids won’t get you set free.

Message to the world - Don’t mess about in Dubai.

I keep hearing this argument and I disagree.

If I learned a 16 year old German boy had sex with his 15 year old girl friend in the UK I absolutely would hope the British authorities would not bother prosecuting even though he technically broke the law. I also have a sneaking suspicion I would not be alone on that.

Please don’t assume what we all think.

I keep hearing this argument and I disagree.

If I learned a 16 year old German boy had sex with his 15 year old girl friend in the UK I absolutely would hope the British authorities would not bother prosecuting even though he technically broke the law. I also have a sneaking suspicion I would not be alone on that.

Please don’t assume what we all think.

He committed a crime under Dubai law. We wouldn't expect tourists from other countries to get away with committing crimes here due to it being legal in their home country. He's got a year. It's not that long in the grand scheme of things. He just needs to keep his head down, do his time, and then come back to the UK and get on with the rest of his life.

Still- we only know what his family reports.

British High Commission hadn’t clarified their role and if they acted without knowing full facts. Like, are they the ones who introduced nationality as Pakistan … because they didn’t have correct info. Because nature of the crime, public will likely never know.

Girl family version of events - we don’t know what mother of minor child understood to have happened and the content of the phone messages. Possible that it was very inflammatory & upsetting. Not all hugs and kisses. There have been reports … but they are from MF family. Everything has been “poor little boy, & consent”. Girl on birth control (so this means consent? Perhaps it’s for medical reasons. Maybe she needed “morning after pill” which tells as mother story) Public have no idea if this is even true.

IMO - there is more to know than poor little boy, consent, days from birthday, already sexually active, bad mum.

The facts … lead to his conviction & incarceration. Selling your story to tabloids won’t get you set free.

Message to the world - Don’t mess about in Dubai.

Convicted in Dubai not Britain, seen as this is a British forum maybe that's why people are defending him.

Yeah I was doing some googling there to try and find out for sure but it’s not super clear. Dubai has some strange laws which they apply very selectively depending on who is involved and it can often lead to very perverse outcomes with victims being criminalised.

An example of that is the Irish woman charged with attempted suicide. I think she was actually a victim of domestic abuse as well which triggered the attempt, and yet they tried to charge her. I noticed that detained in Dubai had very warm words for how the Irish government successfully handled this.

amp.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/10/irish-woman-charged-with-attempted-suicide-in-dubai-has-travel-ban-lifted

According to the woman I heard on the radio yesterday (who I think may have been Radha Stirling) the 17 year old could also have been convicted had she still been in Dubai when it was reported.

Hope she doesn't have plans to go back there.

We deport them (if at all) after they've finished their sentence.

Having an age of consent is morally repugnant? Don't be ridiculous. The UK has such laws. The fact that another country sets the age differently than we do is irrelevant. In Dubai it is 18. 18 is far from unusal, and is shared by many countries. It has bugger all to do with compassion and everything to do with the fact that we expect "foreigners" to abide by our laws and so it is to be expected that we have to abide by the laws of the country we visit. There are more than enough threads about young men in boats being criminals and dangers, without even the decency of a trial or evidence to prove that as a fact. So it seems that as ususal MN is two-faced - we can say and do what we like about people not from our country, but we expect special treatement abroad for the British.

Marcus is a convicted criminal, cannot understand why people try to defend him.

Could not even keep his little knob in his pants until he got home.

He should have respected the country he was in, cannot see why one one would think they should show him any respect it works both ways.

Does anyone know if under 18s who engage in sex in Dubai are guilty of a crime as well? Or is it just the 18+ person who gets charged?

I’m wondering if the 17 year old girl had still been in Dubai would she have been held responsible for anything?

Also it might appear that Britain normally do more because the Detained in Dubai organisation who have a lot of experience with these cases had strong words for the government. I wonder if they’ve said similar about the government response to other cases?

Marcus Fakana, of Tottenham, “feels abandoned by the British government and Keir Starmer”, Detained in Dubai said.
Radha Stirling, the group’s chief executive, said the sentence was an “utter disgrace” and “an embarrassment to Britain”, adding that “the UK has prioritised trade deals over people’s lives

Marcus is a convicted criminal, cannot understand why people try to defend him.

Could not even keep his little knob in his pants until he got home.

He should have respected the country he was in, cannot see why one one would think they should show him any respect it works both ways.

Marcus is a convicted criminal, cannot understand why people try to defend him.

Could not even keep his little knob in his pants until he got home.

He should have respected the country he was in, cannot see why one one would think they should show him any respect it works both ways.

Be honest, are you her mum?

Well from what I read, both Marcus and his family knew how strict here family were and hid their illegal actions from them.

They disrespected her family also, so what did they expect. Seems Marcus and his family showed zero respect for neither the country they were in or her family and culture so yes, he deserves it all.

Good god. Hes a young lad who made a mistake and will suffer deeply.
I say that as an Asian who had a conservative childhood and who advised my DC against teen sex.

Marcus is a convicted criminal, cannot understand why people try to defend him.

Could not even keep his little knob in his pants until he got home.

He should have respected the country he was in, cannot see why one one would think they should show him any respect it works both ways.