Holiday romances are the stuff of rom-coms and chick lits, but not for 18-year-old Marcus Fakana, who faces a year in prison for his summer fling.
The construction apprentice from London was on holiday in Dubai with his family in September when he met a fellow British teenager at his hotel and they began a romantic relationship which turned sexual.
The pair planned to continue their budding connection in London. But when the 17-year-old girl returned to Britain, her mother discovered the relationship and reported Fakana to Dubai police.
“It was very traumatic. I was taken out of the hotel without being told why. I was not allowed to call anyone, including my parents,” Fakana told CNN in a written statement shared by his legal advisory team, Detained in Dubai. “Everything was in Arabic and I didn't know when I would get out. I was not given access to a lawyer, the embassy or my parents.”
The age of consent in the United Arab Emirates – of which Dubai is the largest city – is 18, meaning the girl was a minor at the time of her relationship with Fakana.
“I didn't mean to break the law, I didn't even know she would turn 18 in a month,” says Fakana, adding that he didn't think age was an issue as they were in the same school year.
The teenager says he is sorry and remorseful for breaking the law, but is calling on the prime minister of the conservative monarchy and Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, to suspend the one-year prison sentence he was given last week has been ordered to withdraw, “so I go home for Christmas with my family.
A 'modern' tourist destination
Dubai is popular with Western European travelers, who flock to the beachside city for its warm climate and luxurious lifestyle. The city received a record 17.15 million international visitors last year and the airport served 87 million passengers, making it the second busiest in the world.
But most travelers are unaware of how different the authoritarian country's legal system is, based on both civil law and Sharia law.
Dubai has marketed itself as a “modern and liberal tourist destination,” which can be “confusing for tourists” when faced with little-known laws or their arbitrary application, says Radha Stirling, CEO and founder of Detained in Dubai . a UK-based legal advice and human rights organisation.
As a result, Fakana's case is just the latest example of a foreigner in trouble in the City of Gold.
Marcus Fakana, 18, was sentenced to one year in prison on December 11, 2024 in Dubai. – Detained in Dubai/PA
Laws surrounding relationships, alcohol and online activities are some of the issues tourists most often encounter. Although alcohol consumption is legal in Dubai's drinking establishments, and the party culture is “widespread”, anyone caught in a public place with alcohol in their system can be charged with public intoxication or consuming alcohol without a licence, Stirling says.
“No one would think it is illegal to leave a location, get in a taxi and go home, but if you are outside the location you are breaking the law,” she adds.
Another area of confusion is the country's sweeping cybercrime laws, which cover online activities from hacking and terrorism to unkind comments and promoting charities. These laws apply to private and public communications, retroactively and internationally. So something you share online before traveling to the UAE could still lead to prosecution after you arrive, says Stirling.
“I would say that almost 100% of visitors to the UAE are already breaking these laws, if anyone would bother to report it,” she says. This year, a 39-year-old Irishman was detained for three months in Dubai for sending a 'threatening emoji', and a Northern Irish man was detained for two months for a negative Google review.
Dubai Police and its government media office did not respond to requests for comment from CNN.
'It can break you'
Although the UAE has one of the highest percentages of foreign prisoners in the world – unsurprising given its population is around 90% non-Emirati – Stirling says most of those detained in the UAE do not end up serving a prison sentence.
The strict implementation of these laws is necessary to maintain public safety and security, said Azaan Salahuddin, managing partner at Dubai-based law firm Al Adl Legal. “Laws are meant to protect citizens, or people who come from outside the country,” he says.
He pointed to the country's low crime rates: in Dubai, official police figures recorded just 24.6 crimes per 100,000 people in 2023. This is significantly lower than the UK figure – measured in a very different way – of 84 per 1,000 people.
“Every country I've been to enforces their laws,” says Salahuddin, adding that ignorance is no excuse and it is every traveler's responsibility to know the law. In Fakana's case, “it is clear that the girl was a minor and her parents filed charges,” he said. “It's a simple case.”
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, also MP for Fakana's constituency of Tottenham, echoed these sentiments: “It's the case wherever you are in the world – and that's why the Foreign Office makes it clear on its website what the rules are. – that you follow the rules and law of that country.”
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he “recognizes that this is an extremely distressing situation for Marcus and his family” and that the Foreign Office “is in regular contact with his family and his legal team at this difficult time.”
Tori Towey speaks to the media after arriving home at Dublin Airport on July 11, 2024 with her aunt Ann Flynn (left) and her mother Caroline (right). -David Young/PA
But other foreigners also found the UAE's legal system, and many reserved laws, confusing.
In July this year, Tori Towey, a 28-year-old Irish flight attendant for Dubai-based airline Emirates, faced a six-month prison sentence for attempted suicide and drinking alcohol.
Towey, who lived in Dubai for a year, says her partner became physically abusive after they moved in together. She reported domestic violence to the police, but her partner filed a retaliation lawsuit against her, resulting in a travel ban that prevented her from working or leaving the country.
“The police told me that if I dropped the case, my travel ban would be lifted,” Towey said. But this didn't happen. “That just put me in a really bad situation. I couldn't go anywhere. I had to go back to him. I just felt like I was stuck, like there was no help,” she told CNN in a phone interview.
After attempting to commit suicide in May this year, Towey found herself at the police station and charged with attempted suicide. In the UAE, suicide is illegal, despite a widespread announcement in 2020 that suicide would be decriminalized.
“I had to find out for myself what the charge was because I wasn't told,” she says. Finding legal representation was also difficult. “Lawyers won't even look at your case without an upfront fee of 20,000 dirhams (about $5,400).”
Towey finally received legal advice from Detained in Dubai, and under increasing pressure from the Irish government and media attention to her story, her two-month travel ban was eventually lifted, the charges dropped and she was able to return home.
Before the incident, Towey said she was happy in Dubai and still has a lot of love for the city and the culture she left behind. “It's just the system and the stress it can cause. It can break you because you can lose everything,” she says.
An uncertain future
Meanwhile, Fakana's parents had to return to Britain for work, and he remains alone in Dubai.
“I've been here for four months and it's been stressful and financially draining,” he says. “I have been without family for a long time and have suffered from anxiety, headaches and sleepless nights.”
Stirling believes Fakana's case should have been taken to court, claiming police wrongly listed his age as 19 and his nationality as Pakistani in their report, which she says likely led to a harsher verdict .
Fakana and his lawyers are now deciding whether to appeal his one-year sentence in Dubai Central Prison, a prison with a poor record of human rights abuses and torture – although there is a chance the prosecutor could seek an even harsher sentence will demand.
“I heard that they could fine and deport me instead and I am advocating for that,” says Fakana.
“It was an eye-opener; This has been the most stressful time of my entire life.”
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com
