Anyone else bothered by this?

[Minorie]

British teenager, 18, is jailed for one year in hell hole UAE prison after having sex with girl, 17, during 'holiday romance' | Daily Mail Online

I feel like this boy has been left out to dry. If it were a woman, even a drug mule, the government would step in, but why isnt anyone trying to sort this out. It's a year - and anyone who isnt white, is treated appallingly in Dubai

I have mixed feelings about this. Part of me agrees that the UK should have been far stronger and objected to this prosecution.
On the other hand I feel that he broke the law and should not have done so.
How would I feel if some visitor argued that he had sex with a 12 year old in the UK because it is legal in his country?

I was wondering if there's more to this story TBH. The girls Mother made a complaint to Dubai police after they were safely back in the UK and this boy was still out there. If she hadn't of done that I doubt they would of even known about it.
Obviously sex under 18 is illegal over in Dubai - but c'mon they were both over the age of consent in UK so I really don't understand why a mother would do that? The girl was only just under age to - she's 18 now.

She wasn’t 12 though

That's not quite the same though. The comparison in Britain would be two tourists, one 16 and one nearly 16, which probably wouldn't be prosecuted in this country if consensual I don't think?

I feel for Marcus, he doesn’t deserve this. Unfortunately he is in a country that doesn’t think the same way and I just hope either the FO can intervene on his behalf or at least his time can be served without incidence.

the mother of the girl is a vindictive arsehole. I do wonder if she’s fucked things up for her daughter too. I can’t believe that the authorities won’t keep her part in it off the record (it’s not like they love women over there) and she won’t be able to set foot back in the country without risking detainment.

It sounds like she purposely reported it only when she was back here, knowing her daughter could get in trouble. This boy is 18 facing a year there.

@2024onwardsandup @DarkAndTwisties
I was trying to say that we need to obey the law in whatever country we are in. Something might be legal in our own country but be illegal in the place we are visiting. We need to obey local laws. Even if I was in Iraq I’d not have sex with a ten=year-old despite it being legal
Yesterday I crossed a road against a red man, totally legal in the UK (there was no traffic in sight) but it would be illegal in some states in the US.
I have towed a trailer at over 100MPH when abroad, it was legal but here it is never legal to tow at over 60MPH.
We have to obey the law of the place we are.
I know of a case in the UK where the parents of a fifteen-year-old girl reported her sixteen year old boyfriend for having sex with her and he was prosecuted. They have now been married for about 30 years and the child conceived when she was fifteen is now a parent himself.