Mum of Brit Mia O’Brien locked up in Dubai sets up new fundraiser in desperate bid to free daughter caught with cocaine
THE mum of a Brit law student detained in a hellish Dubai prison and sentenced to life has set up a desperate new fundraiser.
Mia O’Brien, from Huyton, Merseyside, was handed a 25 year prison sentence after she was found with 50g of cocaine, her mum previously revealed.
Mia O’Brien was handed a 25 year prison sentence in United Arab Emirates[/caption]
Her mum Danielle McKenna has set up a new fundraiser[/caption]
She was caught with 50g of cocaine[/caption]
It comes after Mia’s GoFundMe account was suddenly deleted on Friday for violating guidelines.
Taking a swipe at GoFundMe, Danielle McKenna revealed her bank details on Facebook, pleading people to donate directly to her.
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Blasting the fundraiser website, she said: “I am going to set up my own, as they [GoFundMe] are nitpicking at everything.”
After explaining how direct donations would mean avoiding giving GoFundMe a cut of the cash, she said: “I would just like to thank everyone.”
It comes after heartbroken Danielle issued a plea earlier this week saying Mia had “never done a bad thing in her life”.
Her family said she had made a “very stupid mistake” before being thrown behind bars in a nightmare jail in United Arab Emirates.
The drugs Mia was caught with last October have a street value in the UK of £2,500.
The huge amount of cocaine was found inside Mia’s apartment in “one big chunk”.
The Liverpool University law student was arrested alongside two other people – her friend and the friend’s boyfriend.
All three were charged with drug dealing – before Mia was convicted by a judge after a one-day hearing on July 25.
She was also fined a staggering £100,000 by the court before being sent to Dubai Central Prison, also known as Al-Awir.
The notorious lock-up has been dubbed the affluent city’s version of infamous jail Alcatraz.
“Mia feels she has destroyed her life as she wanted to be a lawyer or solicitor,” Danielle told the Daily Mail.
“I speak to her but she can’t say too much on the phone,” she added.
“She’s just made a stupid mistake after going over to see a friend and her boyfriend in Dubai.”
She was convicted of drug dealing[/caption]
Mia was planning to be a lawyer, her mum said[/caption]
She was given 25 years in jail[/caption]
The mum-of-five said Mia pleaded not guilty to intent to supply the drugs.
But the judge swiftly ended the trial and handed her a life sentence of which she has to serve 25 years.
Danielle said: “The trial was all in Arabic and Mia was told of the sentence later by her lawyer.
“She is absolutely devastated by what has happened. Mia is being really strong but I know she is going through a living hell.”
Mia and Danielle have been in contact as much as possible during the Brit’s jail stint so far.
The young student is sharing a cell with six other women and is forced to sleep on the floor every night with just a mattress and single pillow.
“The prison conditions are horrendous. There are no staff really and she has to bang on a big door if she needs anything,” Danielle revealed.
“She’s seen fights and said she has been really scared.
“She was crying on the phone and saying ‘Oh mum – please forgive me’.”
The Al-Awir prison is notorious for facing dozens of horror allegations of abuse, torture and rape from former inmates[/caption]
A young Mia pictured at a birthday party several years ago[/caption]
Up until today, the family kept the reason why Mia had been jailed private.
Danielle admitted the family were shocked and heartbroken when they learned about the drugs.
Mia has never taken a drug in her life and would never dream of selling cocaine, according to her mum.
Danielle is confident that her daughter is innocent as she labelled Mia a “victim of a miscarriage of justice”.
Adding: “I definitely don’t think she was going to sell the drugs or bring them back.
“It’s a lot of drugs but there are others involved and she has just been caught up in it.”
Mia is due to have an appeal in the next few weeks with her mum hopeful that she will be allowed to return to the UK soon.
Inside ‘Dubai’s version of Alcatraz’
MIA O’Brien has been locked up in the Al-Awir Central Prison in Dubai.
The jail is used for both male and female convicts with them being seperated once they step through the chilling gates.
Women make up one of the four blocks inside the huge jail, according to the British Government website.
Horror stories from inmates who have previously been locked up and those from the families of Brits still trapped behind bars paint a disturbing picture of Al-Awir.
In 2012, Karl Williams was imprisoned for a year after police found drugs in the boot of his hire car.
He compared the Al-Awir jail to the “Dubai version of Alcatraz” during his sentence.
In his memoir, he recalled seeing inmates being stabbed to death in violent clashes that were not stopped by guards.
In a statement, he said that his testicles had been electrocuted while he was interrogated by police.
“They pulled down my trousers, spread my legs and started to electrocute my testicles,” he wrote in the statement.
“It was unbelievably painful. I was so scared. I started to believe that I was going to die in that room.”
Their lawyers also said that the men were forced to sign documents in Arabic at gunpoint.
Karl claimed Russian gangsters ruled the prison wards and allegedly used HIV-positive inmates to rape and deliberately infect others as a form of punishment.
At least four HIV-positive prisoners at Al-Awir were allegedly denied medication up to five months, according to another shocking report by the Human Rights Watch.
British footballer Billy Hood made similar accusations as he said prisoners were tortured and left to die from diseases.
His claims were repeated in 2021 by 60-year-old Albert Douglas who told The Sun Online prisoners are raped, tortured and even starved by the cruel guards.
Dubai’s prison system and government deny all the claims.
Danielle is hoping Mia can secure a clemency deal which will allow her to serve the remainder of her sentence closer to home.
The emotional mum said: “Mia is being really brave about it but she really misses her two young brothers who are aged just five and seven.
“She just wants to come home. I want her home too – she’s my only daughter.
“She can’t wait to come home. She said the prison can be scary but she’s just trying to keep her head down.”
Mia’s story was first shared by her family on GoFundMe as they appealed for donations so they could go and see her.
But on Friday the GoFundMe page mysteriously vanished.
It was later revealed that it had been deleted for violating the website’s guidelines.
A GoFundMe spokesperson told The Sun: “It was removed because it violates Term 9 of the Prohibited Conduct section in our Terms of Service.
“Term 9 prohibits raising funds on GoFundMe for the legal defence of certain alleged crimes.”
The fundraiser – which had a target of £1,600 – made just under £700 before it was removed.
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