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DUBAI’S ultra-strict drug laws have seen Brit law student Mia O’Brien banged up and facing 25 years in a brutal jail.
She was reportedly found with a 50g lump of cocaine back in October – worth around £2,500 in the UK – and is now caged in the Al-Awir prison, dubbed Dubai’s “Alcatraz”.
Mia O’Brien, 23, was sentenced to life in prison in Dubai[/caption]
The Merseyside woman was sentenced after a one-day trial in Arabic[/caption]
If convicted in the UK, Mia would likely have got a sentence of around two years, according to the Sentencing Council’s guidelines – though it’s impossible to say exactly.
In the Gulf State, however, she faces a quarter of a century.
This emphasises that the UAE’s rules are much tighter and the punishments far more severe – here’s why.
Dubai is part of the UAE, which takes a zero-tolerance approach to drugs.
The Arab nation’s super-strict rules are dictated by Shariah Law, which society follows over there.
Any quantity of illegal drugs found – even 0.01g – can result in prosecution.
In fact, you don’t even need to be found with drugs on you.
If your blood tests positive for traces drugs, then this counts as possession and can be prosecuted.
Being found with miniscule amounts can result in a minimum three months in prison and / or a fine of up to £20,000.
As the quantities get bigger, however, so do the punishments – and things get really serious if the police suspect you had intent to supply.
Life sentences, meaning 15-25 years behind bars, are common for possession of large quantities or selling drugs.
Supplying drugs of any kind carries a minimum sentence of five years and a fine of £10,000.
This applies to anyone “inciting, inducing or facilitating” drug use for another person – so you don’t even need to have bought and sold it.
If the drugs you supplied are considered to have caused serious harm, then the minimum sentence rockets to 10 years in prison and a whopping £40,000 fine.
In some cases, the death sentence is even metered out.
The Al-Awir prison is notorious for facing dozens of horror allegations of abuse, torture and rape from former inmates[/caption]
Law student Mia got ‘mixed up with the wrong so-called friends’ while at university, according to her mum[/caption]
As in Mia’s case, trials are usually conducted in Arabic – making it very difficult for tourists to defend themselves.
And miscarriages of justice, as Mia’s mum claims has happened, are tricky to overturn.
The system is stacked against defendants every step of the way.
In May, Sam Dorman, a 33‑year‑old British dad from Derbyshire, was sentenced to 40 years in Al‑Awir Central Prison after police found 0.5 g of cocaine on him and 28 g at his home.
Back in 2008, British tourist Keith Brown was jailed for four years over a speck of cannabis – smaller than a grain of sugar – which was found on his shoe.
In another notorious case, a man was even jailed for possession of three poppy seeds left over from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow Airport.
Mia, from Huyton, Merseyside, was handed a 25 year prison sentence after she was found with the drugs which have a street value in the UK of £2,500.
Her family this week issued a plea for help saying she had “never done a bad thing in her life” and had made a “very stupid mistake”.
Her heartbroken mum Danielle McKenna, 46, has revealed new details about her lengthy jail term.
She revealed that Mia, 23, was caught with 50 grams of the Class A drug in the Middle East last October.
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 have been charged with drug dealing.
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 the hellish 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’s just made a stupid mistake after going over to see a friend and her boyfriend in Dubai.”
By Georgie English, foreign news reporter
ALLEGATIONS of electrocution torture, abuse and preventing medication for sick inmates at al-Awir prison have all been made in the past.
This is where Brit Mia O’Brien, 23, is reportedly being held.
Her mum, Danielle, said she has been locked up in a “central prison”.
The jail is used for both male and female convicts – though they are separated 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 released by Williams, 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.”
DONALD Trump has weighed in on the sick murder of refugee Iryna Zarutska as her death by a deranged “career criminal” has sent the US in turmoil.
The 23-year-old Ukrainian was stabbed to death in a “random attack” on August 22 after she boarded a train in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
Iryna Zarutska, 23, was killed on a train in North Carolina after fleeing the Russian invasion[/caption]
Footage shows the moment Iryna was savagely attacked[/caption]
Trump has weighed in on the sick murder of Iryna[/caption]
Her cold-blooded murder has since rocked the US as her killer, Decarlos Brown Jr., – who was allegedly homeless at the time of the attack – already had 14 previous arrests under his belt.
Rage bubbled when, just days later, fundraisers began popping up in support of the depraved killer and appealing for cash to help bankroll his defence.
Outraged citizens online slammed the fundraisers as twisted, disgusting, and a slap in the face to the victim’s memory.
And now, weighing in on his Truth Social platform, the US President seethed Democrats “have blood on their hands” and blamed Iryna’s death on their refusal to “put bad people in jail”.
Citing the chilling CCTV footage of the “beautiful, young Ukrainian refugee” being mercilessly stabbed on the train, he warned North Carolina needs renewed “law and order”.
The post read: “I have seen the horrific video of a beautiful, young Ukrainian refugee, who came to America to escape the vicious War in Ukraine, and was innocently riding the Metro in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was brutally ambushed by a mentally deranged lunatic.
“The perpetrator was a well known career criminal, who had been previously arrested and released on CASHLESS BAIL in January, a total of 14 TIMES.
“What the hell was he doing riding the train, and walking the streets? Criminals like this need to be LOCKED UP.
“The blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer’s knife, and now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail, including Former Disgraced Governor and “Wannabe Senator” Roy Cooper.
“North Carolina, and every State, needs LAW AND ORDER, and only Republicans will deliver it! Additionally, where is the outrage from the Mainstream Media on this horrible tragedy?
“VOTE FOR MICHAEL WHATLEY FOR UNITED STATES SENATE, HE WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!”
Following Iryna’s death a GoFundMe, which has since been taken down, appealed for cash to help Brown’s defence and help the “fight against the racism and bias against our people”.
Another fundraiser was titled, “Fight against the racism and bias against our people,” implying that the mental health system failed Brown due to his race.
“While what happened on the Blue Line was a tragedy, what we mustn’t lose sight of is the fact that Decarlos Brown Jr. was failed categorically by the judicial system and the mental health services of North Carolina, and as such is not entirely to blame for what happened,” one deleted GoFundMe page claimed, per The New York Post.
“Thank you for giving us a hand to push against this corrupt narrative,” another fundraiser stated.
GoFundMe has stated that raising money for the legal defense of those who have been charged with violent crimes is a direct violation of the platform’s policies.
“GoFundMe’s Terms of Service explicitly prohibit fundraisers that raise money for the legal defense of anyone formally charged with a violent crime,” a GoFundMe spokesperson said in a statement to The U.S. Sun.
Declarlos Brown Jr., 34, was arrested and charged with murder[/caption]
The ‘beautiful’ Ukrainian was the subject of a ‘random attack’[/caption]
Iryna’s death has sparked turmoil in the US[/caption]
“Consistent with this long-standing policy, all fundraisers for Decarlos Brown Jr.’s legal defense have been removed from the platform, and any donors who contributed have been fully refunded.”
Outraged citizens online slammed the fundraisers.
One user wrote: “You can’t make this up. He [allegedly] murdered in cold blood and yet his supporters want you to think he was ‘failed’ by the system. Instead, he did exactly what the system wants him to do.”
“Anyone who donated to the GoFundMe for Decarlos Dejuan Brown should be named and f**king shamed!” another person wrote online.
“Race has f**k all to do with it! There would be absolute rage if the race was reversed!”
Brown had previously been arrested in January 2025 for misusing the 911 system, claiming that someone had planted a “man-made” substance into his body that controlled how he walked, talked, and ate, according to an arrest affidavit.
Before he called 911, police conducted a welfare check on Brown, where they told him he was suffering from a medical issue and there was nothing law enforcement could do for him.
Brown became irate at their response, called 911, and was arrested shortly after, according to the Charlotte Observer.
In July 2025, Brown’s public defender for the January 2025 arrest questioned his capacity to continue with the legal proceedings, prompting a judge to order a forensic mental health evaluation, as reported by Queen City News.
The evaluation, however, was never completed.
This is a timeline of Decarlos Brown Jr.’s criminal history since 2011
Haunting footage showed the moments just before her death[/caption]
Brown had 14 previous arrests under his belt[/caption]
She had been living in the US for about three years before she was violently killed[/caption]
A BRITISH woman who was facing 60 years in prison in America after she was caught with £15m of cocaine will be home in 24 months after she struck a plea deal.
Kim Hall, 29, was stopped at Chicago’s O’Hare airport with 43kg of the Class A d…
A BRITISH law student sentenced to 25 years in prison over cocaine charges is facing “living hell” in a Dubai jail – but three questions still hang over her case.
Mia O’Brien, 23, was arrested last October after she was reportedly found with 50g of cocaine – worth around £2,500 in the UK.
She was arrested last October after she was found with 50g of cocaine[/caption]
Her mum, Danielle, insists her daughter is innocent[/caption]
Convicted after a one-day Arabic trial on July 25, the Brit from Huyton, Merseyside, is now caged in Al-Awir prison, dubbed the Gulf state’s “Alcatraz”.
Her devastated mum Danielle McKenna insists her daughter is innocent, branding the verdict a “miscarriage of justice” and revealing Mia “has never taken a drug in her life”.
Do you have any information on this story? Get in touch at juliana.cruzlima@the-sun.co.uk
The young law student, who dreamed of becoming a solicitor, is sharing a filthy cell with six women and sleeps on a mattress on the floor.
“She’s just made a stupid mistake after going over to see a friend and her boyfriend in Dubai,” Danielle said.
“She was crying on the phone and saying ‘Oh mum – please forgive me’.”
But as the family fights for clemency, three key mysteries still loom large over the case.
Mia wasn’t alone when the police swooped.
She was arrested alongside her friend and the friend’s boyfriend, and all three were charged with drug dealing.
Yet only Mia’s name and story have surfaced publicly.
Her mother says “others were involved”, but there’s silence on whether the pair were convicted, freed, or even still in Dubai.
Despite her arrest last October and conviction in July, Mia’s ordeal only became public days ago, when her mum set up a GoFundMe appeal.
Until then, the family had kept the reason for her jailing secret.
Danielle admitted they were “shocked and heartbroken” when they first learned about the drugs and had struggled to go public.
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.
The mystery deepened further when GoFundMe abruptly pulled the fundraiser for “violating guidelines” – cutting off one of the family’s few lifelines of support.
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.
The 50g of cocaine – a “huge amount” according to Mia’s mum – was found in her Dubai apartment in “one big chunk”.
Prosecutors accused Mia of intent to supply, but she pleaded not guilty.
She was also fined a staggering £100,000 by the court before being sent to the hellish Dubai Central Prison.
Her mum insists her daughter was just “caught up in it” and is hopeful she will be allowed to return to the UK soon.
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.”
For environmental history, the changes and consequences gained from launching a war against drugs in Mexico is an ongoing task.