Boy, 18, to begin sentence in UAE jail after ‘vacation romance’ with lady, 17

A British teenager who was arrested in the UAE after having a “holiday romance” has surrendered himself and will begin his brutal sentence behind bars.

Marcus Fakanda, 18, will have to serve one year behind bars after he was arrested for having intercourse with a 17-year-old while on holiday. He has been sent to the “hellish” Al Awir prison, notorious for supposedly “torturous conditions” where men are forced to shave their heads on entry and are punished if it grows back. Adding to this, Human Rights Watch reported that non-nationals inmates in the jail were denied essential HIV treatments.

Despite his desperate pleas, Fakanda has now entered the jail and will not be free to leave. The student shared a message before entering the prison, which thanked his several supporters back in the UK who have been campaigning for his release.

He 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.”

Fakanda was on holiday in Dubai with his family when he enjoyed a brief holiday romance with another teen, also from London. Despite being less than a year apart in age, Fakanda was arrested after police were informed of the incident. Since the arrest, the girl has now turned 18, but Dubai’s strict laws enforce that the statuary age of consent is 18.

In 2020, the UAE decriminalised pre-marital intercourse, but Fakanda still faced a maximum sentence of 20 years inside. He has since been given a year, the minimum for such cases.

A representative of the British teen said he “feels abandoned by the government” following the judgement, and called it “an utter disgrace” and “an embarrassment to Britain”. Radha Stirling, founder of a 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.

“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,” reports the Mail.

Fakanda decided to give into the fight for his freedom, which he felt was pointless, and submitted to the sentence. He was turned into Dubai authorities by the mother of the girl she slept with, after she had returned to the UK.

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