Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

I would imagine they'll let him out after a few months.

The government can lobby the Dubai government fur leniency.

They do it on behalf of many other prisoners/convicted.

This is a highly publicised case, the defendant is a young person, there is a lot of public sympathy, so yes, I would expect some diplomacy efforts.

I’ve just read an article on Detained in Dubai, about how you can be held or arrested for things you’ve done before going there. One man was held until the charity lawyers helped him out, for sending emojis they didn’t like to a business in Dubai. While in another country!!

There is not a chance Id go there.

Why on earth did they take it further!

I feel so sorry for him, poor chap ♥️ It’s part of the reason I’m terrified to go to these sorts of countries in case I unwittingly break a law and end up locked up for years.

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.

I prefer the first one “Enemy poster” 😂

Easy for you to say EmmaMarie isn't it, so blasé about someone else's liberty, a teenage boy at that.

Oh sorry the EmmaMaria poster.

This is in response to Enemy poster

My goodness, what compassion you have.

There are many laws as round the world that are morally repugnant and many people question the humanity of them and rightly so what don't you understand about that!

The girls mum contacted the British High Comission in Dubai to report the crime against her child … they are the ones that took action with Dubai authorities.

It’s got British government all over it already!!!

What do you expect them to do? Go to war over it?

As for the young man, I doubt this will really have a hugely negative impact on his future. Even with a marked DBS, it is up to employers to determine whether the conviction is a barrier to employment, and given the publicity, I doubt very much anyone will care at all. If he wants to get a visa somewhere, the same applies - he might have to jump through an extra hoop, but few people are going to care about this conviction. The facts are so publically available now that I think just about everybody will be "on his side".

If he's sensible and plays his cards right, then this young man can cash in enough on it to ensure that he never has to take out a student loan and possibly even a little to get a start out on a chosen career path. He seems to have a head on his shoulders, and I suspect he will be well advised, so he could easily turn this to his own advantage. It's maybe not what he would have wished for, but when life gives you lemons...

Unfortunately as the young man did commit the crime they can't.
They could unofficially ask for leniency but there is no political reason for them to so they won't

I wish him all the best.🙏

The mother of the girl should hang her head in shame.

I would have expected the British government to do something about this.

The news was also reporting that British High commission in Dubai were the girls mum first contact in Dubai. Seems that they also followed law closely.

IMO splashing if all over the news benefitted Dubai and not MF:

1. Dubai would not “cave” to tabloid news
2. Rule breakers will be warned and/stay out of
3. Benefitted tabloids most in terms of clicks. Maybe MF family got some cash. MF forever on internet as criminal.

They might let him out early, but it not be reported as anything other than proper time served.

I’m so disgusted by the girl’s mother!

i really hope the sentence is commuted or he receives a pardon. For all he knew, his consenting partner was the same age, and they were doing what teenagers do.

I presume you are ok with tourists in Britain not observing the letter of the law then? I agree it is sad, and he's shown remarkable bravery and resilience to cope with this at his age. And I am sure that he didn't realise he was breaking the law. But he did break the law and was reported for it. Dubai have the same right that we in Britain have to expect people to follow the law, and ignorance of the law isn't an acceptable defence.

I suspect that he will receive a pardon or commuted sentence very soon, something that could not be considered whilst there was uncertainty as to an appeal. People may not like Dubai, and they may have good reason - but foreigners in Britain who break the law don't get Royal pardons at all.

Dubai are not to blame for this - if anyone is to blame it is the girls parents who have set a new bar for "overreaction".

Just reviving the thread as it's been announced today that Marcus Fakana has handed himself in to Dubai police to begin his sentence. Very sad and unfair outcome, irrespective of the letter of the law.

this confused me as well, I visited my friend multiple times in Dubai between 2014-2019 and she and all her female colleagues drove, in fact being able and willing to drive was a condition of her employment!

Not a fan of Lammy at all.

This is the same man who stayed silent when Diane Abbott etc not only received horrendous racist and misogynistic abuse daily on Twitter but was treated poorly by fellow labour MPs and staff.

Reports in the papers today that David Lammy, who is Marcus Fakana's MP, has refused to give assistance because it would not be appropriate for him to do so given that he is also the foreign secretary.

I find this particularly egregious from Lammy, who has spoken at length in the past about being a black boy from Tottenham who faced discrimination. Now apparently his attitude is "I'm all right, Jack".

Yes but seeing as I don’t intend to return and the friends now moved back to UK, one set anyway.

Backhanders with police and authorities always work only if they like the look of you. I had a Nigerian friend who returned home once a year for holidays and said she heard she would get blackmailed by police etc for money if she smoked in the street so she only smoked at home or didn’t smoke whilst she was there.

I heard from my friends who lived out there not sure how true but if you were emirati or white and got yourself into trouble you could pay backhanders to the police to get you out of trouble

You need to be very careful with that one, @Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain
Friends who've lived there for years assume me the whole area runs on backhanders, but it only works if they "like the look of you", and if they don't you could easily find yourself in jail for that too