An 18-year-old Brit who is facing up to 20 years in a UAE prison over a holiday romance has said that he feels ‘abandoned’ by the Foreign Secretary – with his family accusing David Lammy of not following up on the case.
Marcus Fakana, of Tottenham, was charged with having sex with a then-17-year-old girl while on a family holiday to Dubai in September this year.
According to Radha Stirling, founder of British-based aid organisation Detained In Dubai, who is helping Marcus, the Fakana family is ‘upset’ that Mr Lammy has not chased up the case further.
In a post on the Detained In Dubai website, a statement from Marcus said that the Foreign Secretary had ‘sent a couple of letters’, but that he had not heard anything back since.
‘All they have done is send a couple of letters. I am not aware of any diplomatic communications or meetings with UAE counterparts. I feel abandoned, that I am going to lose my life over this, before it’s even really begun’, Marcus said.
Marcus’ tragic statement comes after his family last month warned that his mental health was ‘declining’.
Stirling added: ‘Marcus is 18 years old, but faces the demise of his entire life for being intimate with someone in his same school year, who is his same age.
‘This is where Dubai authorities need to be intelligent about their application of the law. Marcus had consensual relations with someone his own age, from his own country while on a short holiday.
‘He does not deserve to be locked up in Dubai Central Prison for a fling’.
The teenager was held in Dubai’s ‘notorious’ Al Barsha Police Station for days after the ‘strict’ mother of a 17-year-old girl he had sex with on holiday this summer reported him to Dubai authorities.
The couple, who had met while staying at the same hotel with their families, ‘had a wonderful time together’, with the girl – also a Brit – meeting up in secret as she feared she could not tell her mother she was seeing a boy.
But in a devastating turn of events, Marcus – who had been on a family holiday celebrating his father’s birthday – could face two decades inside a gruelling UAE prison after the girl’s furious mother found out about the fling and informed police in Dubai upon returning back to the UK.
While the relationship would have been legal in the UK, under Dubai law a 17-year-old is defined as a child. The girl has since turned 18.
Setting up a GoFundMe page to raise money for legal fees to bring him home, Marcus’ family said: ‘What was meant to be a happy time has turned into a nightmare for him, our family, and our friends.
‘This has happened as a result of someone trying to misuse UAE law against him.
‘He is being charged with a that could lead to imprisonment for up to 20 years.
The teenagers were planning to continue their relationship when they were back in London.
But it is understood the mother had found out about their relationship when she went through her daughter’s phone and found their chats and pictures, later sharing them with Dubai police from the safety of the UK.
Marcus had still been on holiday with his family when police suddenly turned up at the hotel and detained him for three days at Al Barsha Police Station.
He is still in Dubai as he fights the case, and the family are hoping to raise £20,000 to help towards legal fees, accommodation and travel costs to come back to the UK.
The lawyer’s fees alone could cost them up to £21,000.
In a previous GoFundMe page set up two months ago, the family alleged Marcus had been denied a translator and forced to sign a confession document he did not understand.
They said: ‘He has been wrongfully accused of a crime he did not commit, and is now caught in a legal battle in Dubai.
‘This is not just a misunderstanding, it is racial discrimination, with someone seeking to use the UAE law against him.
‘While detained he was denied access to a translator and forced to sign a confession document he didn’t understand. He is only 18 years old, terrified, and very scared.
‘His mental health is deteriorating rapidly.’
Speaking to Detained in Dubai, Marcus had told of how the couple had planned to see each other when they got home.
Marcus said: ‘We had a wonderful time together. We really liked each other but she was secretive with her family because they were strict.
‘My parents knew about our relationship but she couldn’t tell hers. She had to meet me without telling them it was to see a boy.
‘When she left, I couldn’t wait to see her again when I got home. Then suddenly, police knocked on our hotel door.
They said they were taking me in for questioning but wouldn’t tell me why. I couldn’t imagine what for. I was frightened and my parents were terrified.’
The pair had tried to spend as much time as they could together while abroad, and hoped to get to know each other better when back in London.
The girl left Dubai first and they had arranged to meet up.
‘He [Marcus] was told his girlfriend’s mother had reported the relationship to authorities in Dubai after she had arrived back in London,’ said Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai and human rights advocate.
The organisation offers confidential legal help to people facing civil and criminal legal trouble in the UAE.
Mr Lammy spoken to Marcus last month after he was criticised by Detained in Dubai last week for allegedly leaving Marcus in Dubai without proper representation.