Friends & family have organised a march in Westminster to support Marcus Fakana who spent his New Year in solitary confinement in Dubai’s notorious Al Awir prison.
18 year old Marcus Fakana was sentenced to a year in Dubai jail for having consensual relations with a British woman who was one month away from turning 18. Detained in Dubai CEO and Crisis Manager, Radha Stirling, says “Consensual sex for two Brits who are now both 18 is completely legal in the UK and it is easy to see how travelling teenage tourists could inadvertently break the law in Dubai. Marcus was not aware that the girl was one month away from being 18 until police showed him her passport. They were in the same school year and it didn’t cross their minds to confirm ages or check local laws in the ‘modern and liberal Las Vegas of the Middle East’, or so it’s marketed to be.
“On returning to the UK, the girl's strict Indian-British mother discovered the girl’s romance and reported it to Dubai police who took it upon themselves to charge Marcus with a felony, despite confirming the act was consensual.
“Dubai prosecutors have absolute discretion on whether to charge a crime or not. The law is arbitrarily enforced which adds confusion for tourists. Visitors carrying CBD vapes have been criminally charged while others have been deported and others have simply had the vapes confiscated and been permitted to continue their travel.
“Police could have dismissed the report or charged Marcus with a misdemeanour like ‘offensive behavior’ and fined or deported him. Instead, they opted to charge him with a felony as though he was a paedophile which clearly, he is not.
“In Dubai, the circumstances of the case can be taken into account and it is clear that Marcus did not need to be treated so poorly, to be thrown into prison for a year over a victimless crime, a holiday romance.
“He has been through a tremendous amount of trauma over the past several months of judicial proceedings which for an 18 year old British tourist, is punishment enough. Marcus has spent Christmas facing detention, New Year’s behind bars and will spend his upcoming birthday in a facility that English courts have refused to extradite people to due to the ‘real risk of human rights abuses and torture’.
“David Lammy’s public comments perfectly sum up the current Labour government’s attitude towards the people of Britain. The Irish government never said Tori Towey should have ‘followed the law’ when she was charged with attempting to commit suicide while escaping domestic violence. They said it was outrageous and that she shouldn’t spend any time behind bars. They got her home. The British government never said Scott Richards should have followed the law when he was jailed for sharing a charity page on Facebook. It’s frankly appalling that Lammy would essentially disavow his constituent and defer that he ‘should have followed the law’ when he is supposed to be fighting for him. Both Mr Lammy and Keir Starmer have every channel available to them to lobby the government of Dubai for a royal pardon or for Marcus’s sentence to be commuted as Britain has formerly done and as other countries have recently done for their citizens, even when charged with much more serious crimes.
“It’s very easy for older teens and youth to get into trouble in Dubai, even when visiting with parents. There is a lot of behaviour that is commonplace and appears legal but if a finger is pointed, that person will be arrested and prosecuted.
“From a political standpoint, Ireland, Canada, the US, Malaysia and Israel have saved their citizens from unjust treatment in the UAE. The UK must do the same or they will be seen as weak by their Middle Eastern allies. When weakness is sensed, it can lead to major diplomatic incidents like the Khashoggi assassination, like the attack on US yacht Nostromo, like violating Iran sanctions in Ras Al Khaimah and like the housing of Chinese military interrogation bases in Abu Dhabi.
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“When countries like Israel and the US stand up for their citizens, it sends a clear message of strength and diplomacy. It creates stronger diplomatic relations between the countries and shows strength. After the Abraham Accords, Israel showed itself to be swift and effective at diplomatically resolving unjust issues for their citizens and that’s why you hear very little about Israeli prosecutions in the UAE. The US has been effective in resolving cases like that of Tierra Allen, Elizabeth De Las Santos, Peter Clark and Joseph Lopez. Their diplomatic relations with the UAE are stronger for it and they are seen as strong.
“If Keir Starmer and David Lammy can’t resolve a basic diplomatic matter like the unfairly lengthy incarceration of a British teen, it says they are weak and desperate. It says they are weak to British citizens, to the Middle East and weak on the world stage. How can the UK government be relied upon to represent Britain internationally, if it can’t solve a simple teen's unfair plight. This is something that VP Elect JD Vance had resolved in just two weeks.
“Marcus has been cut off from the telephone, is in solitary and is wholly dependent on the British government to represent him in diplomatic exchanges”.
“Supporters of Marcus will march today from 12:00 - 16:00. They will assemble at Parliament Square and head towards Downing Street to call on the British government to help free Marcus.
“Supporters are encouraged to abstain from travel to Dubai until Marcus is free, to write to the UAE Embassy, their MP’s, members of the House of Lords, to David Lammy, MP and to their local media outlets”.
