A British teenager jailed in Dubai for having sex with a fellow UK tourist is finally home after being freed following a royal pardon.
Marcus Fakana, now 19, from Tottenham, was 18-years-old when he was arrested for having sex with a 17-year-old girl from London while he was on holiday with his parents in the UAE city in August.
The girl was just one month away from turning 18, but sex with anyone under the age of 18 is an offence in the Gulf state.
He returned to the UK on Thursday July 3, following several months in prison after initially being sentenced to a year.
In a video posted to X, the CEO of campaign group Detained in Dubai, Radha Stirling, said that Fakana had been released from prison following a month-long campaign to secure a royal pardon from Dubai ruler HH Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum.
Ms Stirling said Fakana was nervous after his release but was grateful for the support he had received.
She said: ‘It all happened so fast and he was nervous until the plane left the tarmac. We are relieved Marcus was released early from his 1 year long prison sentence. He’s currently recovering from the ordeal.’
In an official statement, Ms Stirling said: ‘Marcus should never have been put through this. He was supposed to spend a short few days with his family but ended up spending nearly a year in the tourist destination.
‘We are thrilled that after an intensive campaign, he was officially pardoned and is home safe, surrounded by those who love him.
‘This was an extraordinary young man caught in a deeply unjust system. We thank everyone who stood by Marcus and helped bring him home.’
She added: ‘Marcus is back where he belongs but no one should have to endure this. He was 18 at the time and the British woman involved is now 18 too, a fact she did not divulge to him at the time.
‘We hope his story will prompt serious reconsideration of the UK’s travel advice and its engagement with the UAE on human rights issues. Dubai could have chosen to fine and to deport him. Instead, the 18 year old was sentenced to one year in prison.
‘The impact on his life has been severe and there was no need for him to endure such trauma’.
Fakana began his secretive holiday romance in August with the girl who was then just a couple of weeks shy of her 18th birthday.
They were reportedly planning on continuing their relationship when they were back in London.
However the girl’s mother reportedly found birth control pills, photos and chats upon their return to the UK and informed the Dubai police, who arrested Fakana at his hotel.
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.
The now 19-year-old had been serving his sentence at the Al Aweer 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.
While in prison, Fakana’s family had campaigned to bring him home and had hoped for a pardon from Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum.
The worried family and Detained In Dubai asked David Lammy to raise the case through diplomatic channels after the apprentice builder was sentenced last month.
But the foreign secretary, who also serves as the MP of for Fakana’s north London constituency, said that Britons should ‘follow the rules’ in other countries’.
In December lawyer David Haigh, who is advising the Fakana family, warned that Fakana could have his sentence increased to up to 20 years.
Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, Haigh said: ‘The maximum sentence for a case like this is 20 years.
‘It is always seen that the prosecutor really decides the sentence, but this was a low one for them. The worry is that they will not want to let this go and look weak. They may want to show they have fully upheld the law to everyone watching. Marcus will play almost no part in any prosecution appeal.
‘He won’t be allowed to talk or address the judge and everything will be in Arabic anyway. There won’t be a translator. He’ll probably be pushed into court for a minute and then pushed straight out again.’
He added: ‘The days ahead are fraught with difficulty.’
Haigh had said at the time the main hope was that the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, would respond to Fakana’s fresh plea to be pardoned by authorities and deported rather than locked up.
And following a month-long campaign, a royal pardon has allowed Fakana to be reunited with his family.
This is a breaking story, more to follow.
