Marcus Fakana’s lawyer said the teen did not know how old the girl was as they were in the same school year before he was arrested by Dubai police and jailed for a year
Protest march in support of Marcus Fakana in central London
Protesters gathered in central London calling for the release a British teenager sentenced to one year in Dubai prison.
Marcus Fakana, 18, was convicted of having sex with a then underage 17-year-old girl “in the same school year” whom he shared a holiday romance with while in United Arab Emirates (UAE) city.
Having sex is illegal under the age of 18 in Dubai and when the girl’s mother returned back to the UK, she reported the relationship to UAE police who then arrested Marcus at his hotel. The pair’s relationship would have been legal here in the UK where both teenagers live as the age of consent is 16.
On Saturday 6, around 100 supporters marched from Parliament Square to Downing street holding a banner which read “bring Marcus home” while chanting calls for justice
One friend at the demonstration told BBC’s Greg McKenzie that Marcus they were worried about the teenager’s “state of mind.”
Speaking on Radio 5 Live they said: “We’re here to support him to Bring Marcus home, its been terrible the last couple of months being there by himself. We are thinking of this little boy’s state of mind, he’s losing it over there. He’s quite young. It’s the government’s responsibility. He is a British boy, they need to do something about it.”
Last week, Marcus’s lawyer and CEO of Detained in Dubai, Radha Stirling, wrote on X – formerly known as Twitter – that Marcus had spent New Year’s in isolation where he was being “held for a week” for health checks.
The lawyer further slammed the process stating that it was “outrageous” treatment, saying that the girl’s mum should not have been able to file a complaint from the UK.
Also appearing on BBC Radio 5 Live with Greg McKenzie she shared how Marcus didn’t know the girl was 17 at the time as they are in the same school year and that had the mum reported him while in Dubai, her daughter would have likely been charged as well.
She said: “Sadly, the last time I spoke to Marcus was when he turned himself in. He was taken into solitary isolation and we haven’t spoken to him since. They could have charged him with a some other sort of lesser crime like offensive behaviour or something that would lead a judge to deport him perhaps. Fine him but not incarcerate him.”
Radha added that its was “sad and unfortunate” that the Tottenham teen had been handed a one-year sentence in a “notorious prison” that she said English courts “wouldn’t even extradite people to.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting a British man in the UAE and are in contact with his family.”