Posted on 09/05/2025 9:06:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
An online fundraiser for a 23-year-old British woman ‘jailed for life’ in Dubai has been deleted for breaching one of the platform’s guidelines. GoFundMe said raising funds for the “legal defence of certain alleged crimes” is prohibited.
The family of Mia O’Brien from Huyton, Liverpool, say she is being held in Dubai's central prison. They have not disclosed what she has been convicted of but say she “made a very stupid mistake”. Her mother Danielle McKenna, 46, wrote on the now-deleted page: “Mia has been given a life sentence over in Dubai and she is now in central prison.
Mia O'Brien's mother said her daughter 'made a very stupid mistake' (Image: -) “As you can all probably imagine, as her mother I am absolutely devastated. I haven't seen my daughter since last October.
“Mia is only 23 years old and has never done a bad thing in her life. This is a young girl, who went to university to do law, and unfortunately got mixed up in the wrong so-called friends and made a very stupid mistake and is now paying the price.
“So all I ask is if you can donate anything you can spare, even if it's a £1, it could help up massively and I would be forever grateful. Thank you so much.”
The fundraiser had a target of £1,600 and had collected almost £700 before it was removed, reports The Sun.
A GoFundMe spokesperson told the newspaper: "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."
In a later post on GoFundMe, prior to the fundraiser’s removal, Ms McKenna added: “I just want to thank everyone for their donations so far, this money will be used to send to my daughter Mia, and also for any legal fees that may arise, and maybe even to go towards getting family over to Dubai to see her, as none of us have seen Mia since last October, so thank you all so much.”
The mother told the Mail Online that her daughter was “going through it at the minute”.
“She's just been transferred to another prison after getting a life sentence. It's been a massive shock.”
While the crime O’Brien has been convicted of has not been revealed, life terms can be handed down in the United Arab Emirates for offences such as drug trafficking and possession, murder or attempted murder and human trafficking.
An FCDO spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British woman detained in the UAE and are in contact with the local authorities.”
In its travel advice for Dubai, the FCDO warns there is "zero tolerance for drugs-related offences". "The penalties for trafficking, smuggling, using and possessing illegal drugs (including residual amounts) are severe."
I didn’t catch what line of work she is in.
So the charge against her is unknown but GoFundMe does know it?
It doesn't say beyond that. But, her mother said she's never done a bad thing in her life.
They never say what her alleged crime is, but GoFundMe says they don't allow fundraisers for certain crimes, so they know what crime she committed?
Also, if GoFundMe says they don't allow fundraisers for certain crimes, are they saying all people who are charged with "bad" crimes are definitely guilty?
Mothers see only the best in us.
My mother will tell you that I was a delight as a child who never gave her any trouble. I remember things a little differently.
I would venture to say that Mia did a lot of bad things and what she did in Dubai was not a "mistake".
Play stupid games.....
She was convicted.
To life.
Now granted it is the Arab world where if you are not the dominate male mohammedan you ain't nothing but there are still only a few things that you can get life for.
None of them would fall in the category of "mistake".
Lol…23 years old. Seems have been rode hard, put away wet.
“Midnight Express” comes to mind.
What could she have done that was that bad
Drugs and prostitution go together.
The most civilized Muslim country is just paper thinly covering its savagery.
The British seem to be especially prone to not understanding this reality, based on my conversations with them.
From the looks of her she may have been doing a little hanky-panky for some moola.
I suppose the towel heads have a pretty low tolerance for that there too?
If drugs, lucky she wasn’t in Singapore.
Obviously you're not familiar with the Islamic practice of "marrying" women for an hour or two and then divorcing them, to legitimize prostitution. It's sadly obvious to me that it is the consummate man-made religion in the way it finds ways to sanction sex and violence as tools to rope men in and gain power over them.
The least bad would be drug possession. They might be able to pay enough people off to get her let out in a few year.
As you can see, it goes down hill from there very fast.
People tend to go off on vacation, especially to some exotic local and they act like nothing is real. Like the place and people are some sort of virtual reality. And so they do stupid things. Some of those stupid things are criminal.
“If drugs, lucky she wasn’t in Singapore.”
yep, very lucky. I had a co-worker who was from singapore, he told me how his uncle was executed for having 1/4 oz of weed.
on the other hand Dubai are just assholes.
Dubai frees Briton caught with speck of cannabis
By Reuters
February 26, 20089:50 AM PSTUpdated February 26, 2008
DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai has freed a Briton jailed after a speck of cannabis was found on his shoe, a newspaper reported on its Web site on Tuesday.
Authorities released father-of-three Andrew Brown, 43, from Birmingham, who had been serving a four-year jail sentence after police at Dubai airport found 0.003 grams (0.0001 ounce) of cannabis stuck to the sole of a shoe in his luggage last September, the daily 7 Days said.
Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates. Under UAE law, drug trafficking carries a sentence ranging from four years in jail to death, although executions are rare. Foreigners convicted of bringing drugs into the Gulf trade and tourism hub normally face jail terms followed by deportation.
She’s in a caring profession, a deeply caring profession.
If she went to a strict Muslim country like Dubai looking like she does in that pic, she's the stupidest most foolhardy twit on Earth.
In fairness, a lot of things could be illegal in Dubai, that aren’t close to criminal here.
You could go to jail in Dubai for kissing someone on the beach.
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