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A British teenager has been jailed in Dubai for having sex with a 17-year-old girl while the pair were on holiday.
Marcus Fakana, an 18-year-old from Tottenham in north London, was on a trip with his parents when he struck up a holiday romance with the girl.
Upon finding out of the relationship on her return to the UK the unnamed girl’s mother reported Mr Fakana to Dubai police and he was arrested in September.
On Wednesday he was sentenced to one year in a Dubai prison his lawyers claim is “notorious for human rights abuses and torture”.
His family have issued a plea directly to Dubai ruler, HH Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum to spare Marcus for consensual sex with another British citizen – a relationship which would be completely legal in the UK.
His representative Radha Stirling, from Detained in Dubai, said Marcus will appeal the one-year sentence.
In a statement, she said: “He was desperately hoping to come home this week but prosecutorial mishandling in the first stages of the case meant it wasn’t heard as a misdemeanour when it should have been.
Calling on a boycott of the nation, she added: “I urge young people and parents to reconsider holidays in Dubai where so many people find themselves at risk of unfair and lengthy detention in prisons notorious for human rights abuses and torture.
“Holidaymakers should book elsewhere until Marcus is free. There is so much public support for Marcus. They want to see him home and a year in prison is not only unreasonable, it’s an utter disgrace.”
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