Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

Ireland's age of consent is 17.
Would you be happy to have a 17 year old from Britain prosecuted because they had consensual sex with a 16 year old partner in Ireland?

What a horrible person she is

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

I wasn’t arguing, I was responding to someone else who said that there would be outcry if someone committed a crime here and was deported, by stating the fact that that happens all the time! I didn’t say whether I believe that to be right or wrong, I wasn’t even arguing that that fact had anything to do with this case!

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

it’s not “up to the employer” in many cases. No school, employer in a profession involving vulnerable people etc will let someone with a sex offending conviction through the door, the risk is too big.

That is simply not true. Every employer makes their own decision based on the information they are given. Given the circumstances involved, it is very unlikely that any employer will consider this conviction a barrier to employment.

Occasionally, yes. But our prisons are full of foreign nationals who committed crimes here, so your argument doesn't wash. I don't recall hearing that their countries are asking for them to be returned either.

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.

I feel hugely sorry for him, but he has broken the law in that country and has to pay the consequences. We wouldn't want a tourist to our country to think the law doesn't apply to them, would we?

Nope, they're the victim of a crime.

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

Sorry to break this to you but we deport foreign national criminals all the time, it’s actually a government priority to do so. The Home Secretary has a legal obligation to deport foreign nationals sentenced to a year or more in prison (with some exceptions such as if they’re refugees)

Obviously if you are visiting another country I believe you should follow their laws, but this seems a rather odd thing for their authorities to prosecute since neither of them were actually from the UAE or a resident there. I wouldn’t think it would be a good look for them to do this to a tourist, then again any country that is ruled by Sharia law isn’t a country I’d want to visit anyway.

I'm very torn on this one. Part of me thinks we all have a responsibility to adhere to the laws of the countries we visit, so have to expect the consequences

The other part of me thinks that the authorities in Dubai should have treated this with leniency. A fine, a warning or even a suspended sentence if such a thing exists there. I feel desperately sorry for that poor boy.

And the girls mother is a bitch. She is beyond contempt

@fashionqueen0123 I read somewhere the mum found out because she looked through her daughters phone and found texts between them

Landing cards / entry-visa for many countries ask about convictions,

I think a DBS only shows crimes committed in the UK so it won't even show on a DBS unless I'm mistaken?

My heart bleeds for him and his family.
Hoping and praying for it to be over soon

Good point. God imagine being almost 18 and your mum phoning up around the world about your sex life. Mortifying. Why did she even tell her.

100% guess … Brit high commission didn’t know that he was British.
Guessing his profile etc that gurl saw was not his full name, girl maybe didn’t know it. His SM maybe had a spoof surname & home ….

Girl not telling her mum 100% truth, or she did not know 100% facts about MF.

When was last time teenagers in trouble told 100% truth to adults (excepting Young Sheldon, of course)

People around the world question laws all the time as this is someone's life you are discussing, their real life, their existence and their incarceration, it is not just a news article to them.

Oops😬