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.

This it though isn’t it, foreigners are sold this image of Dubai that all these restrictive laws are myths, or won’t apply to tourists.

it’s an amazing tourist destination and everyone is treated so well, you can party, enjoy the luxury etc.

so you have people thinking they can go on holiday there as a gay couple, have unmarried sex, wear bikinis, drink and party. It’s just a posh Ibiza innit.

until it isn’t. People fall foul of the “laws” everyone’s telling them don’t apply, and it’s just the boring people who hate arab culture telling them this.

we see it on here. For every person saying they wouldn’t go because slavery, laws etc, there are more people saying you’re making it up, it’s not like that, if you’ve not been there you don’t know how it is, we live there and the lifestyle is amazing, we are completely free to behave as we wish…

women have only recently been given permission to drive ffs- in 2018!

Yeah very true, a lot of people have no clue.

I had a friend of mine who went there in 2017 for a wedding. Her friend was British and the guy she was marrying was I think Palestinian and they’d chosen to have a destination wedding in Dubai so some of his family could attend more easily.

She was going to the wedding with her boyfriend and the week before she was going I had to tell her to read up on the laws around conduct for unmarried couples etc. and she was quite sceptical of what I was saying.

She genuinely seemed to have no idea. Nor did her boyfriend. Until she actually did listen to me and read up on things.

It won't affect DBS checks. They only cover criminal records held in the UK. As what he did was not an offence under UK law, he will not be required to declare the conviction to potential employers nor will he go on the sex offenders register.

It will, of course, have a lasting impact on his life and I don't want to minimise that, just pointing out that some of the effects suggested on this thread don't apply.

In theory, Dubai requires proof beyond reasonable doubt. In practice, the conviction rate suggests the courts operate to a much lower standard of proof. There is no jury for a criminal case - the defendant's guilt or innocence is decided by the judge. Of course, it is quite possible that Fakana admitted the offence, in which case no evidence was required. There is absolutely no reason to believe there is more to this story than we are being told.

Unfortunately your information is incomplete. State employers in education and health are obliged to seek criminal record information from any country a job applicant has spent more than 12 months in. And this is a recommended procedure for private employers who require an enhanced DBS check.

And he won't get a tourist visa for the USA if he is honest in his application, which is generally advisable.

@Ohnonotmeagain women have been able to drive in the UAE way before 2018, you're getting confused with Saudi Arabia (and so are many websites when I googled this in surprise). Women have always had the right to drive there I think.

I lived there before 2018 and drove, as did my Emirati friends. And no, I didn't 'do it and not get caught'. I passed my driving test there!

Reading some of the websites insisting the UAE only gave women the right to drive in 2018 is a Black Mirror-like experience for me. There are so many that come up and they are all wrong! And will make me more wary of where I trust information from ...

In regard to this case I agree with you that the mother was extremely malicious. The most informative post on this whole thread is the PP who said when police are involved the law is very straightforward, there's no nuance.

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. I’ve only ever been there once and we all had a laugh. I didn’t like it though and was going partly to visit my friends who lived there with their families.

Malicious, exactly that @microcrocodile.

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

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.

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".

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.

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!

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.

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".

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.

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

I wish him all the best.🙏

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

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

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...

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!!!

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!

This is in response to Enemy poster

Oh sorry the EmmaMaria poster.