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Inside Dubai's 'Alcatraz' jail where Brit law student faces life sentence
Liverpool native Mia O'Brien, 23, is believed to be being held in the notorious Al-Awir prison in central Dubai, which has faced horror accusations of abuse and the torture of inmates
A British law student facing life in prison is serving her time in a hellhole prison dubbed "the Alcatraz of Dubai". Liverpool lass Mia O'Brien, 23, is being held in the UAE city's Central Prison after "making a very stupid mistake", her mum said.
It is thought the "central prison" is Al-Awir prison in central Dubai - around 30km from the city's towering hotels and lavish malls - where both male and female inmates are banged up.
The notorious lockup has faced horror allegations by former inmates of abuse and rape. Brit Karl Williams suffered from PSTD after he spent a year in the prison and claimed he was tortured and witnessed daily beatings.
Mia's worried mum Danielle McKenna, 46, said in a now-deleted fundraising page to free her daughter that she had not seen Mia since October but she had "never done a bad thing in her life" prior to her conviction.
The details of her daughter's conviction have not been revealed, but she claimed Mia got "mixed up with the wrong so-called friends" and has been jailed since last October.
Emirates countries hand out life sentences ranging from 15 to 25 years for crimes including but not limited to drug trafficking and possession, murder or attempted murder, human trafficking and terrorism-related activities.
Williams, who was jailed after police found synthetic cannabis in the boot of a hire car, was released in July 2013.
He said he was left with post-traumatic stress disorder and was worried his newborn daughter would be unable to recognise him after his horror ordeal in the prison, in which he called the “Dubai version of Alcatraz”.
Williams claimed the Dubai police beat him, used an electric cattle prod and threatened him with a firing squad in order to get him to confess and said he saw inmates being stabbed to death in violent clashes which were not stopped by guards.
He also claimed Russian gangsters ruled the prison wards and allegedly used HIV-positive inmates to rape and deliberately infect others as a form of punishment.
Suneet Jeerh, 25, was also caged in the jail in 2013 after being arrested with Williams and another pal. His sister, Davena Kumar, told a local newspaper her brother was separated from his friends and forced to watch other inmates be sexually assaulted.
Strict visitation rules meant the siblings were separated by a window and could see each other on just one day a week. Davena told the Ilford Recorder at the time: “He was skinny and he wasn’t himself. He was banging on the door calling my name and I just wanted to hug him.”
Al-Awir separates women and men on entry and male inmates are forced to have their head shaved on starting their sentence. They are routinely punished if their hair gets long, it is claimed.
Human Rights Watch reported that non-nationals detainees in Al-Awir Central Jail were denied essential HIV treatments. And even if the detainees are tested regularly, only national prisoners receive their antiretroviral medicine.
A fundraising page set up by Mia's mum has been deleted for violating guidelines, it emerged today.
Daily Star Sunday
Liverpool native Mia O'Brien, 23, is believed to be being held in the notorious Al-Awir prison in central Dubai, which has faced horror accusations of abuse and the torture of inmates
A British law student facing life in prison is serving her time in a hellhole prison dubbed "the Alcatraz of Dubai". Liverpool lass Mia O'Brien, 23, is being held in the UAE city's Central Prison after "making a very stupid mistake", her mum said.
It is thought the "central prison" is Al-Awir prison in central Dubai - around 30km from the city's towering hotels and lavish malls - where both male and female inmates are banged up.
The notorious lockup has faced horror allegations by former inmates of abuse and rape. Brit Karl Williams suffered from PSTD after he spent a year in the prison and claimed he was tortured and witnessed daily beatings.
Mia's worried mum Danielle McKenna, 46, said in a now-deleted fundraising page to free her daughter that she had not seen Mia since October but she had "never done a bad thing in her life" prior to her conviction.
The details of her daughter's conviction have not been revealed, but she claimed Mia got "mixed up with the wrong so-called friends" and has been jailed since last October.
Emirates countries hand out life sentences ranging from 15 to 25 years for crimes including but not limited to drug trafficking and possession, murder or attempted murder, human trafficking and terrorism-related activities.
Williams, who was jailed after police found synthetic cannabis in the boot of a hire car, was released in July 2013.
He said he was left with post-traumatic stress disorder and was worried his newborn daughter would be unable to recognise him after his horror ordeal in the prison, in which he called the “Dubai version of Alcatraz”.
Williams claimed the Dubai police beat him, used an electric cattle prod and threatened him with a firing squad in order to get him to confess and said he saw inmates being stabbed to death in violent clashes which were not stopped by guards.
He also claimed Russian gangsters ruled the prison wards and allegedly used HIV-positive inmates to rape and deliberately infect others as a form of punishment.
Suneet Jeerh, 25, was also caged in the jail in 2013 after being arrested with Williams and another pal. His sister, Davena Kumar, told a local newspaper her brother was separated from his friends and forced to watch other inmates be sexually assaulted.
Strict visitation rules meant the siblings were separated by a window and could see each other on just one day a week. Davena told the Ilford Recorder at the time: “He was skinny and he wasn’t himself. He was banging on the door calling my name and I just wanted to hug him.”
Al-Awir separates women and men on entry and male inmates are forced to have their head shaved on starting their sentence. They are routinely punished if their hair gets long, it is claimed.
Human Rights Watch reported that non-nationals detainees in Al-Awir Central Jail were denied essential HIV treatments. And even if the detainees are tested regularly, only national prisoners receive their antiretroviral medicine.
A fundraising page set up by Mia's mum has been deleted for violating guidelines, it emerged today.
Daily Star Sunday