The British teenager serving a one-year jail sentence in Dubai for having sexual relations with a 17-year-old girl spent the beginning of the year in solitary confinement in the notorious Al Aweer prison.
Marco Fakana, 18 years old, construction apprentice, was arrested in August after the mother of the girl he had a secret affair with filed a complaint about Marcus to the Dubai authorities upon his return to the UK.
Marcus, from Tottenham, north London, will spend a week in isolation, according to Radha Stirling of Detained in Dubai, an organization helping Marcus’ case.
The human rights expert shared the update on the teenager in a post on X yesterday, saying: ‘Marcus Fakana spent the New Year in isolation, where he will be held for a week while he undergoes health tests. He can’t call his family. What outrageous treatment of a British teenager. The girl’s mother should not have been able to file a criminal complaint from abroad.’
Marcus was sentenced to one year in maximum security prison earlier this month.
Rather than appeal and prolong the ordeal for no potential benefit or even a longer sentence, Marcus made the difficult decision this week to turn himself in to begin his sentence.
Marcus has been prevented from leaving Dubai since his arrest in August.
Marcus Fakana had a week-long holiday affair with the girl, also British, but was arrested and detained after his mother complained to Dubai police. Now he has been imprisoned
Pictured is the high-security Al Aweer prison, where Fakana will serve his sentence. The jail houses some of Dubai’s worst criminals, including murderers, terrorists and rapists.
While the relationship would have been legal in the UK, under Dubai law a 17-year-old is considered a child. The girl, from London, has already turned 18 years old.
He will serve his one-year sentence in Al Aweer Prison, also known as Dubai Central Prison for Men.
The prison houses death row inmates and some of Dubai’s worst criminals, including terrorists, murderers and rapists.
In a message posted before entering prison, the student wrote: ‘Thank you to everyone who has supported me during my fight.
‘It has been a long struggle but nothing is difficult with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ guiding me. I am grateful for all the people who helped with donations to me and my faith family for supporting me.’
The 18-year-old was with his family in the United Arab Emirates when he met and had sexual relations with the teenager, also from London.
Detained in Dubai, he said the teenager “feels abandoned by the British government” following the sentence, which he described as “an absolute disgrace” and “a disgrace to Britain.”
Radha Stirling, founder of the pressure group, said: “The police had discretion to charge him with a misdemeanor offense such as ‘offensive behaviour’ or similar, but chose to charge him with the serious offense of having sexual relations with an underage girl, the same law that a 40 A 14-year-old boy would have been accused of having sexual relations with a 14-year-old boy.
“Although Marcus received the lowest sentence legally, it is clear that this could have been handled more reasonably and prosecutors could have exercised more discretion.”
‘He never imagined that he would go to jail for a holiday romance with a girl who was a few months younger, but who is now the same age.
‘It’s 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 promote itself as a glamorous party destination, for influencers, but they are jailing a British tourist for something that wouldn’t be a crime in his own country and ruining his life.”
Mrs Sterling added: “I hoped that the British Government, as other governments have done, would step forward and save one of their citizens from an unfair sentence.”
‘Marcus pleaded guilty, but police and prosecutors had a disturbing litany of details in his file that ended up making it more than just a misdemeanor and heard in higher court.
‘They said he was over 19 and from Pakistan. He was a British citizen. “There were a lot of mistakes deliberately made to torment him.”
Sterling said Fakana now hoped Dubai’s ruler could get involved as he has in the past with visitors who have broken his laws.
The family of London Tottenham’s Marcus Fakana have been left devastated by his prison sentence, sources have claimed.
A doctor shows a corridor of the Al-Aweer prison medical center during the Covid pandemic
Karl Williams claims to have seen men torn apart by knife-wielding inmates, while others were forcibly infected with HIV during their stay in Dubai’s hellish prison. Here he is photographed in his cell during the ordeal.
Former inmate Karl Williams has written about his experience inside the prison in a new autobiography called Killing Time. Here is a photo of one of the meals they served him.
The prison is located in the Dubai desert, miles from the famous beaches of the United Arab Emirates.
According to strict UAE law, only tourists over 18 years of age are allowed to sleep together. In the UK he would not have been considered to have committed any offence.
Stirling slammed the “unreasonable” sentence and criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy for not doing enough to help the teenager.
“Marcus feels abandoned by the British government and by Keir Starmer, who just spent the weekend in the United Arab Emirates,” he wrote in an intense tweet on X.
‘While the likes of JD Vance and the Irish government have been able to resolve cases of injustice and bring their citizens home, the UK has prioritized trade deals over people’s lives. This is truly abominable.
‘David Lammy and Keir Starmer have failed Marcus. This is a shame for Britain…the Labor government should be ashamed for failing to guarantee the freedom of a teenage tourist. It wasn’t a difficult job.’
Mrs Stirling said that Fakana The parents ‘don’t know what to do’ and had to return to London without their son to resume his job as a cleaner and in a warehouse.
“I was desperately hoping to get home this week, but prosecutorial mishandling in the early stages of the case meant it wasn’t considered a misdemeanor when it should have been,” he added.
By his own account, construction apprentice Marcus arrived in Dubai on August 26 with his family on vacation.
Marcus is pictured with his family who have been fighting to have the teenager released.
According to his own account, construction apprentice Marcus arrived in Dubai on August 26 with his family on vacation (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 said: “We received a complaint via the Dubai Police app regarding the rape of a 17-year-old British woman by an unknown man at the Hilton Palm Jumeirah hotel in Dubai.
‘When the complainant was questioned over the phone about the details, she stated that an unknown person had recognized her daughter (the victim) at the hotel and forcibly raped her on August 27 while she was in the country.’
Since the court ruling earlier this month, Marcus was allowed out on bail while he decided whether to appeal, but had been banned 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 in Dubai was not involved in reporting any crime to the UAE authorities.
“They have informed the UAE authorities of the error in their records and all other interested parties are also aware of it.”