British Law Student, 23, To Appeal 25-Year Dubai Sentence After One-Day Trial Conducted Entirely In Arabic

You may remember Mia O’Brien, 23, from Huyton, Liverpool and the ‘stupid mistake‘ which earned her a life sentence in Dubai jail last month. Law student Mia was found with 50 grams of cocaine at an apartment in Dubai, which means she isn’t just spending the next 25 years in prison there, but she’ll also have to fork out $136,000 as a fine for the crime.

Of course when you’re in a situation like that you may as well appeal your sentence, and that’s exactly what Mia plans to do following a one‐day hearing conducted entirely in Arabic. Mia pleaded not guilty and was convicted of drug possession in proceedings that her family and human rights organisations have denounced as manifestly unfair.

Radha Stirling, founder of Detained in Dubai, says Mia’s case could highlight systemic flaws in the UAE’s justice system.

Stirling says: ‘Dubai police have a history of rushing to secure convictions without the rigorous evidentiary standards we expect in the UK. We’ve seen fabricated confessions, reliance on circumstantial evidence, and a disregard for due process. Mia’s case could be the latest in a long line of miscarriages of justice.’

That ‘due process’ should have involved a courtroom where English translation was provided, but instead Mia was swiftly put on trial and convicted without understanding what the hell anyone around her was saying.

In fact, her trial only lasted one day.

So does Mia O’Brien’s appeal have a hope in hell of reducing her sentence or even exonerating her? Well, we’ve seen cases before where foreigners including Marte Deborah Dalelv (unmarried sex – illegal at the time), Matthew Hedges (espionage) and Marcus Fakana (RIP) have all been pardoned in Dubai following media scrutiny and diplomatic engagement, but none of those people were caught with 50 grams of cocaine in their hotel room.

At the end of the day, doing/being in possession of drugs in places like the UAE never ends well, so why bother? A prime example of “FAFO”, as the kids say. With any luck, Mia’s appeal will magically produce some evidence that shows either a) the cocaine wasn’t hers, b) there was no cocaine at all or c) it wasn’t her in the hotel room. Aside from that, she’s at the mercy of a royal pardon.

Who knows – maybe she’ll catch Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on a good day. Fingers crossed…

For the British dad who was recently sentenced to 40 years in Dubai jail after being caught with £2,000 of cocaine, click HERE. Never getting a pardon on that one.