Horrific conditions of prison British student held in after 'very stupid mistake' led to life sentence
Warning: This article contains discussion of torture and rape which some readers may find distressing
British woman Mia O'Brien has been sentenced to life in prison in Dubai after she made what her family described as a 'very stupid mistake'.
The 23-year-old Liverpool woman was being held in Dubai's central prison, the same facility London teenager Marcus Fakana was incarcerated in.
He had been imprisoned in Dubai at the age of 18 after having a relationship with a fellow Brit aged 17 while on a family holiday there, the girl's family contacted the authorities after they had returned to the UK and Marcus' experience in the prison had a 'severe' impact on his life.
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It's not known what crime Mia has been convicted of.
Her mum Danielle wrote in a now closed GoFundMe: "Mia has been given a life sentence over in Dubai and she is now in central prison. As you can all probably imagine, as her mother I am absolutely devastated. I haven't seen my daughter since last October."
Though she recently told the Daily Mail Mia has 'just been transferred to another prison after getting a life sentence', her stay at Dubai's central prison will likely not have been a pleasant one.
Conditions in the prison have been described as 'hellish', with human rights groups raising concerns over the treatment of inmates and according to The Independent there have also been reports of prisoners not receiving proper access to medical care.
A blog post about the prison on Detained in Dubai reads: "You get given a white uniform, no coloured anythings allowed, so white pant/socks etc..
"You may if you’re lucky get a bed, but more likely you’ll be on your blanket (which isn’t washed) on the floor. Each 'Amber' – room – has 96 bunks making a total of 192 beds.
"Breakfast is served at 5am, lunch at 11am and supper at 5pm. Hope you like rice…."
David Haigh, former managing director of Leeds United who spent 22 months jailed in Dubai, told the paper 'the only way to describe being in prison in Dubai is hell'.
“I was held for 22 months and I’ll never forget it – the stench, the dirt, the smell, the heat, and the lack of any information whatsoever," Haigh said.
He claimed he had been subjected to torture and rape by the prison guards, and he said he found it 'more harrowing' when inmates could see the guards abusing other prisoners in front of everyone else.
Haigh described one such alleged incident where three guards 'brought a man in from the street, threw him on the floor and stood on his neck', and said he lived under the 'constant threat of abuse' while he'd also lost a lot of weight due to stress.
Writing in the now-deleted GoFundMe, O'Brien's family said: "This is a young girl, who went to university to do law, and unfortunately got mixed up in the wrong so-called friends and made a very stupid mistake and is now paying the price."
The fundraiser had been attempting to amass funds for the 23-year-old Liverpool woman's legal fees and to pay for travel costs.
Speaking to the Daily Mail recently, Danielle said her daughter was 'going through it' and described the situation as a 'massive shock'.
Life sentences in the United Arab Emirates can be given for drug trafficking, serious violence and terrorism, with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office warning visitors to Dubai that it has no tolerance for drug-related offences and punishments can be as severe as the death penalty.
Joe Harker