British teenager Marcus Fakana, of Tottenham, has been jailed for one year in Dubai for having sex with a 17-year-old girl during a holiday romance.
A British teenager has been jailed for one year in Dubai for having sex with a 17-year-old girl during a holiday romance.
The teen and his loved ones had faced an agonising wait while UAE officials determined his fate, which could have seen him caged in a hell hole jail in the Middle East for 20 years. Marcus Fakana had a weeklong holiday romance with the girl, also British, but was arrested and detained after her mother complained to the Dubai police. He has now been jailed
'My parents knew about our relationship, but she couldn't tell hers. She had to meet me without telling them it was to see a boy. Read More Brit, 18, facing 20 years in Dubai prison for holiday fling says he has been 'abandoned' According to Radha Stirling, founder of British-based aid organisation Detained In Dubai, which is helping Marcus, the Fakana family is 'upset' that Mr Lammy has not chased up the case further.'Marcus feels abandoned by the British government and Keir Starmer who just spent the weekend in the UAE,' she wrote in a blistering tweet on X.
'The family have issued a plea to Dubai ruler, HH Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, to spare Marcus for consensual sex with another British citizen.' In a post on the Detained In Dubai website, a statement from Marcus said the Foreign Secretary had 'sent a couple of letters', but that he had not heard anything back since.
Radha Sterling claimed this was a deliberate act so that the offence – with a two-year age gap - would carry a much harsher sentence. 'He is only 18 years old, very scared, and his mental health is starting to decline. We've done all we can to fight for his freedom, but now we urgently need to raise at least £20,000 to work on getting him back home.
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