A British teenager, Marcus Fakana, has voluntarily entered custody in the United Arab Emirates and has commenced serving his one-year prison term at the infamous Al Awir prison for engaging in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in Dubai.
Marcus, who works as a construction apprentice, was taken into custody in August following a complaint lodged by the mother of the girl he was romantically involved with. The complaint was reported to the Dubai authorities upon the mother’s return to the UK.
She had checked her daughter’s phone and discovered they had been sleeping together. Since returning from Dubai the girl has turned 18.
Earlier this month Marcus was sentenced to one year inside the maximum-security jail.
Instead of pursuing an appeal process that could prolong the situation with uncertain outcomes, Marcus decided today to take the hard step of surrendering himself to begin serving his sentence.
Fakana has been prevented from leaving Dubai since his arrest in August. He will serve his year-long sentence at the al Awir jail, which is also known as the Dubai Central prison for men.
The prison houses death row inmates and some of Dubai’s worst criminals – including terrorists, murderers and rapists.
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
Pictured is the high-security al-Awir Central Prison where Fakana will serve his sentence. The jail houses some of Dubai’s worst offenders, including murderer, terrorists and rapists
While the relationship would have been legal in the UK, under Dubai law a 17-year-old is defined as a child. The girl, from London, has since turned 18
In a message posted before entering the prison, the student wrote: ‘Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my fight.
‘It’s been a long fight but nothing is hard with my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ guiding me. I’m grateful for all the people who helped by donating to me and my family of faith for supporting me.’
The 18-year-old from Tottenham was with his family in the UAE when he met and had sex with the teenage girl, also from London.
Detained In Dubai, which represents Fakana, said the teen ‘feels abandoned by the British government’ following the judgement, which it branded ‘an utter disgrace’ and ‘an embarrassment to Britain’.
Radha Stirling, founder of the pressure group, said: ‘The police had discretion to charge him with a misdemeanour like ‘offensive behaviour’ or similar, but chose to charge him with the felony of sex with an underage girl, the same law a 40 year old engaging in sex with a 14 year old would have been charged with.
‘Although Marcus received the lowest statutory sentence, it is clear that this could have been handled more reasonably and the prosecutors could have exercised more discretion.’
‘He never imagined that he would be going to jail for a holiday romance with a girl who was a few months younger, but is now the same age.
‘It is just shocking. His life is being ruined. Here we have two British tourists who were on holiday in a consensual relationship and now one is going to jail.
‘Dubai likes to market itself as a glamorous party destination, one for influencers yet they are jailing a British tourist for a something that would not be a crime in his own country and ruining his life.’
Ms Sterling added: ‘I did expect the British Government, as other Governments have done, to step up and save one of their citizens from unjust sentencing.
‘Marcus did plead guilty, but police and prosecutors had a disturbing litany of details in his file which ended up making it more than a misdemeanour and heard in a higher court.
‘They said he was older than 19 and he was from Pakistan. He was a British citizen. There were a lot errors deliberately to torment him.’
Sterling said he now hoped the rule of Dubai could get involved as he has done in the past involving visitors who have fallen foul of their laws.
The family of Marcus Fakana, from Tottenham, London, have been left devastated by his prison sentence, sources claimed
A doctor shows a hallway at the medical centre of Al-Awir prison during the Covid pandemic
Karl Williams claims he saw men torn apart by knife-wielding inmates, while others were forcibly infected with HIV during his time in the hellish Dubai prison. Here he is pictured in his cell during the horror ordeal
Former inmate Karl Williams has written about his experience inside the prison in a new autobiography called Killing Time. Here is a picture of one of the meals he was served
The prison is located in the Dubai desert miles away from the UAE’s famed beaches
Under strict UAE law only tourists aged over 18 are legally allowed to sleep together. In the UK he would not have been considered to have committed any crime.
Ms Stirling blasted the ‘unreasonable’ sentence and slammed Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy for not doing enough to help the teen.
‘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.
‘While people like JD Vance and the Irish government have been able to resolve cases of injustice and bring their citizens home, the UK has prioritised trade deals over people’s lives. This is truly abhorrent.
‘David Lammy and Keir Starmer have failed Marcus. This is an embarrassment to Britain… the Labour government should be ashamed they have not secured the freedom of a teenage tourist. It wasn’t a difficult job.’
Ms Stirling said Fakana’s parents ‘don’t know what to do’ and had to return to London without their son to resume work as a cleaner and in a warehouse.
‘He was desperately hoping to come home this week but prosecutorial mishandling in the first stages of the case meant it wasn’t heard as a misdemeanour when it should have been,’ she added.
According to his own account, apprentice builder Marcus had arrived in Dubai on August 26 with his family on holiday.
Marcus is pictured with his family who have been battling to get the teenager released
According to his own account, apprentice builder Marcus had arrived in Dubai on August 26 with his family on holiday (Pictured: Hilton Dubai Palm Jumeirah)
Marcus told police after his arrest that the girl approached him and asked him to have sex with her.
The prosecution document stated: ‘We received a complaint via the Dubai Police application about the rape of a 17-year-old British woman by an unknown person at the Hilton Palm Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai.
‘When the complainant was asked over the phone about the details, she stated that an unknown person had recognized her daughter (the victim) at the hotel and raped her by force on August 27 while she was in the country.’
Since the court sentence earlier this month, Marcus has been allowed out on bail while he decided whether to lodge an appeal, but he had been barred from leaving the country.
A Foreign Office spokesperson previously said: ‘We are supporting a British man in the UAE and are in contact with his family.
‘The British Embassy Dubai was not involved in reporting any offence to the UAE authorities.
‘They have informed the UAE authorities of the error in their records and all other interested parties are also aware.’
