Mia O’Brien, a 23-year-old British law student, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in Dubai after being convicted of drug charges, her mother has said.
She was arrested in October when police allegedly found her with 50 grams of cocaine in an apartment. Her mum said that she pleaded not guilty but was still convicted following a one-day hearing on 25 July.
The University student from Liverpool called her daughter’s ordeal a ‘living hell’, claiming she did not receive a fair trial.
She now faces a life sentence in the UAE’s notoriously strict prison system and a £100,000 fine, while her family pursues an appeal.
“She is absolutely devastated,” her mother, Danielle McKenna, 46, told the Daily Mail. “Mia feels she has destroyed her life as she wanted to be a lawyer or solicitor.
“I speak to her but she can’t say too much on the phone.”
The mum-of-five says her daughter has to ‘serve 25 years’ behind bars and that the ‘trial was all in Arabic and Mia was told of the sentence later by her lawyer’.
Danielle claims she ‘made a stupid mistake’ by deciding to go and see a friend and her boyfriend in Dubai.
Her friend and two others have been charged with ‘drug dealing’, she said.
“She is absolutely devastated by what has happened. Mia is being really strong but I know she is going through a living hell,” she added.
Mia was reportedly being held in Dubai’s central prison, with conditions being described as ‘hellish’
“The prison conditions are horrendous. There are no staff really and she has to bang on a big door if she needs anything,” Danielle said. “She’s seen fights and said she has been really scared.
“Mia said she has to sleep on a mattress on the floor and shares the cell with six others. But she’s not been ill – she has just come out in a few rashes.”
The mother continued: “She was crying on the phone and saying, ‘Oh mum – please forgive me’ and was trying to forgive me.
“I was just so shocked and heartbroken, as she’s never done anything like that.
“She’s never been in trouble and is not a drug taker. I don’t know what has happened, but she is old enough to make her own mind up.
“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.”