An 18-year-old Briton faces up to 20 years in a Dubai prison for having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old British girl while the pair were on holiday in the emirate, a human rights campaigner has said.
Marcus Fakana, of Tottenham, north London, was on holiday with his family when he began a secretive holiday romance in September with another Londoner, who has since turned 18, according to Radha Stirling, of campaign group Detained in Dubai.
After returning home and seeing pictures and chats, the girl’s mother reported the relationship to Dubai police, who then arrested Mr Fakana at his hotel, Ms Stirling said.
The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) London embassy has been asked for comment.
Age difference ‘so small’
A UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said: “We are supporting a British man in the UAE and are in contact with his family.”
Ms Stirling, the founder and chief executive of Detained in Dubai, which helps foreigners abroad and is an international authority on UAE law, said Mr Fakana and his parents were “extremely distressed” by the events.
She added his parents, who work as a cleaner and in a warehouse, “don’t know what to do” and have had to return to London without their son to resume work.
She said: “It’s a unique case in that it’s the first one we’ve brought to the media where it’s a British citizen and where the age difference is so small.”
Ms Stirling continued: “We are not talking about any abuse or taking advantage of anyone.
“This is clearly just a case of two older teenagers, both of them now the same age, who have been caught up because a mother reported the behaviour.”
She added: “This has gone absolutely viral and people just don’t think it’s fair.
“They are shocked that something that is absolutely legal in the UK could warrant 20 years in prison [in Dubai].
“That would ruin their their son’s life, the whole family’s lives. Is that worth it?”
Detained in Dubai was set up in 2008 and says it has contacted Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who is also Mr Fakana’s MP.
‘Generally legal’
Ms Stirling added: “UAE targets westerners for tourism, offers cheap flights, takes out expensive PR agents and marketing in newspapers but there’s very little warning us about what what can happen to us if we go to Dubai.
“What sort of crimes can we be arrested for? Because if you look at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) website, it’s nowhere near thorough enough.”
The FCDO website guidance states: “Consensual sexual relationships between a male and female outside marriage are generally legal as long as both are over the age of 18 years.
“This includes extra-marital sexual relationships.
“If a person aged 18 or over has a sexual relationship with a person under 18 years old, they will be prosecuted for having a sexual relationship with a minor.”
