The British teenager convicted in Dubai after having sex with a 17-year-old girl faces having his jail sentence increased to up to 20 years this week, a leading human rights lawyer has warned.

Marcus Fakana, 18, could be hauled into court as early as tomorrow for a higher sentence to be rubber stamped.

The apprentice builder and his family are said to be ‘freaking out’ at the possibility prosecutors will seek to apply for an increase on the one-year term handed to him last week for consensual sex with the girl, who has since turned 18, during a family holiday in the UAE this summer.

Mr Fakana has not yet been imprisoned in the notorious al-Awir central prison, which houses death row inmates, murderers, terrorists and violent gangsters, as prosecutors ponder whether to demand he is handed a greater punishment. 

He said he is facing a ‘dark and uncertain time’, as he launched a fresh plea to be pardoned by authorities and deported rather than locked up.

Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, lawyer David Haigh, who is advising the Fakana family, said: ‘The maximum sentence for a case like this is 20 years.

‘It is always seen that the prosecutor really decides the sentence, but this was a low one for them. The worry is that they will not want to let this go and look weak. They may want to show they have fully upheld the law to everyone watching. Marcus will play almost no part in any prosecution appeal.

‘He won’t be allowed to talk or address the judge and everything will be in Arabic anyway. There won’t be a translator. He’ll probably be pushed into court for a minute and then pushed straight out again.’

Marcus Fakana (pictured), 18,  who was convicted in Dubai after having sex with a 17-year-old girl faces having his jail sentence increased to up to 20 years this week

Marcus (pictured) could be hauled into court as early as tomorrow for a higher sentence to be rubber stamped

The British teenager was convicted after having a consensual holiday romance with a British girl, then 17, earlier this summer

He added: ‘The days ahead are fraught with difficulty.’ 

Mr Haigh said the main hope was that the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, would respond to Fakana’s plea for clemency.

‘The horrors of jail are obvious. It will be terrible – particularly because he is so young and because there’s a lot of racism in these jails,’ Mr Haigh said.

‘The family are very worried. They are hoping for a miracle.’ 

Fakana could yet launch an appeal of his own to try and get the sentence reduced or removed. Radha Stirling, who leads pressure group Detained in Dubai, said Fakana ‘clearly didn’t intend to break the law’.

She added: ‘They [his family] are going to wait and see if the prosecution is going to apply for a harsher sentence. That real possibility is frankly freaking the family out.’

Fakana, of Tottenham, north London, began his secretive holiday romance in August with the girl who was then just a couple of weeks short of her 18th birthday. Having sex with anyone under the age of 18 is illegal in Dubai.

The girl’s mother reportedly found birth control pills, photos and chats upon their return to the UK and informed the Dubai police, who arrested Fakana at his hotel.

Mr Haigh, who led a campaign to free Dubai’s Princess Latifa after she posted videos in 2021 claiming her family was holding her hostage, said Fakana’s imprisonment damages all involved. 

‘It doesn’t make Dubai look good, it’s not good for Marcus and it certainly isn’t good for the girl,’ he said.