Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

[Ohnonotmeagain]

This is the 18 year old lad who had a holiday romance with a 17 year old girl in Dubai. She was just short of 18.

her parents found out and reported him to the Dubai authorities before he returned home.

his poor parents aren’t well off and had to return home to work leaving him there.

he’s now been sentenced to 1 year in prison.

aibu to think this poor boy should never have been brought before court.

When he comes back, I imagine he will be signing the sex offenders register.

Will he need to?

Genuine question but I thought that would only be relevant for people who commit sex crimes in the UK.

It would be weird to record people for illegal activity overseas that would be legal in the UK?

And done what exactly? Sent a gunboat?

He didn't argue with the police, and we are no longer in the 1970s (although from the tone of your post you might be), we are living in a time when Dubai tries very hard to promote itself as a tourist destination and liberal environment.

I think the mother would still have reported him if he had been white and racism would still have been part of the motivation. I have recently been appalled by the reaction of a long standing friend (Asian) whose son (aged 35) has fallen in love with a white girl, lived together 5 years). She has had absolute screaming tantrums, has cut him off from the family, behaved dreadfully to the girl when he brought her to meet his family. It has really distressed me - my DH is Asian and I am white and we are both really questioning the friendship.

Not knowing her I couldn't say, but it's being constantly claimed that she waited until they were back here so that the daughter wouldn't get arrested too and that doesn't seem to be borne out by the facts

Whether she should have reported it is something else again, but he's been clear that he knew she came from "a strict family", and that his own people knew about them but hers didn't
It might have been better if his own had been willing or able to warn him off, but either way it didn't happen and so here he is

I would cut them off. Although I get when it’s a long friendship it may make you hesitate.

But my dealbreaker for who I will associate with is bigots.

@stuckdownahole the point I'm making is he committed a crime. Therefore he needs to do the sentence. Yes Dubai portrays itself as a liberal country but visitors still need to abide by the rules. Simple

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

Of course he won't be. 😂

I agree with you.