Briton, 18, facing 20 years in Dubai jail over ‘romance’ with 17-year-old girl

An 18-year-old British boy faces years in jail after having sex with a 17-year-old Londoner he met in Dubai, campaigners say.

Marcus Fakana, from Tottenham, was on a getaway with his family when a secret ‘holiday romance blossomed’ with the girl, who is now 18.

He told the Detained in Dubai human rights group: ‘We really liked each other but she was secretive with her family because they were strict.

‘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.’

But the girl flew back home in August, police showed up at Marcus’ family’s hotel and took the teen into custody.

‘I couldn’t imagine what for. I was frightened and my parents were terrified,’ Marcus said.

Marcus was held for three days at Al Barsha Police Station and wasn’t allowed to call or speak to his parents, according to Detained in Dubai.

He remains, however, in Dubai as he cannot leave the country. His parents, a cleaner and a warehouse worker, have paid £2,000 in Airbnbs for their son.

‘I’m here all alone. I pray this nightmare will be over and I’ll be home for Christmas,’ Marcus said.

Detained In Dubai, which campaigns to help people it says have suffered injustice in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), says Marcus was charged because the girl’s mother discovered their chats and pictures on her phone when she returned.

The mother reported the relationship to police in the Emirates, where it is against the law for people under the age of 18 to have sex outside of marriage.

CEO of Detained in Dubai Radha Stirling said: ‘This is clearly a very strict mother to involve police in a private matter that is completely legal in the country where she lives and where the children have grown up.

‘Perhaps she wasn’t aware that she triggered the possibility of a young man of only 18 spending the next 20 years in prison.’

The UAE’s laws are based on Islamic law, or Shariah. While the gulf Arab country has relaxed laws in recent years to attract tourists and investment and ease its conservative reputation, Stirling says its legal code is still ‘strict’.

She added: ‘Parents will be scared to take their older teenagers on vacation with them where they could end up losing their lives over behaviour that’s completely legal in their own countries.’

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: ‘We are supporting a British man in the UAE and are in contact with his family.’

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