British law student jailed for 25 years in Dubai over single line of cocaine
A British law student is facing a 25-year sentence in a Dubai jail after taking "a single line of cocaine" at a party.
Mia O’Brien, 24, could be in prison in the United Arab Emirates until 2050 after being found guilty at a trial conducted entirely in Arabic on July 25.
A British mother held alongside the law student at Al Barsha told The Sun: “She said they were at a party and having fun, and suddenly police showed up and put her in a car.
"There were drugs at the party, and she said to me ‘I took drugs.’ Mia knew she was in big trouble but didn’t think she would be treated as a dealer.
“She seemed to take the view that while she had taken cocaine, she wasn’t dealing drugs. That’s how she acted in the detention center.
“If what she’s saying is true and all she has done is a line of cocaine, 25 years is an excessively long sentence. She said she was visiting on holiday and had only been there a few days.”
While at Al Barsha following her arrest, Mia tested positive for the banned drug, but her British friend, known only as ’Emma’, tested negative and was released.
’Emma’s’ boyfriend received the same 25-year jail term as Mia.
The source added: “Her friend didn’t, so she was released and is back in the UK. Mia thinks she must have set her up to get home.” Of Al Barsha, she said: “There is no light, and the toilets are vile. One area is full of people who know they have been caught doing something and are going to be jailed for a long time.”
She was arrested alongside a female British friend and her boyfriend when Dubai police reportedly found 50 grams of cocaine in the flat last October.
Mia was also hit with a £100,000 fine as part of the sentence, as revealed by her mother Danielle McKenna, 44, who has launched a fundraiser to overturn the conviction.
Mia was held at the notorious Al Barsha police detention center before being moved to the Al Awir jail after her trial.
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