Mia O’Brien: Mum reveals why 23-year-old sentenced to life in Dubai

A British law student has been sentenced to life in a Dubai prison after authorities found 50g of cocaine in her apartment, her mother has revealed.

Mia O’Brien, 23, from Huyton in Merseyside, was handed a 25-year sentence following her arrest last October, with her family initially keeping the exact details private.

Her devastated mother, Danielle McKenna, 46, disclosed the size of the drug stash for the first time, saying the cocaine was discovered inside Mia’s flat “in one big chunk.”

According to Danielle, Mia, who attended Liverpool University, got “mixed up with the wrong so-called friends” during her time at university.

All three people present in the apartment, including a friend and that friend’s boyfriend, were arrested and charged with drug dealing.

Mia pleaded not guilty to intent to supply, but after a one-day hearing in July, the judge found her guilty and imposed a lengthy sentence.

“The trial was all in Arabic and Mia was told of the sentence later by her lawyer. She is absolutely devastated by what has happened. Mia is being really strong but I know she is going through a living hell,” Danielle told the Daily Mail.

The young student is now being held at Al-Awir Central Prison, where she shares a cell with six other women and sleeps on a mattress on the floor, according to her mother.

Prison conditions have been described as dire, and Mia’s family say she feels scared amid reports of violence and neglect. “She was crying on the phone and saying ‘Oh mum – please forgive me’,” Danielle recalled.

“Mia feels she has destroyed her life as she wanted to be a lawyer or solicitor,” she said.

“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’s mother insists her daughter is innocent and was “caught up in it,” describing Mia as “a victim of a miscarriage of justice.”

She added: “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.”

“She’s never been in trouble and is not a drug taker.”

Mia has not seen her family since her arrest. As her mother tries to remain hopeful that an appeal or clemency deal might eventually bring her home, she says Mia “just wants to come home” and misses her young brothers intensely.

“She just wants to come home. I want her home too – she’s my only daughter. I can’t wait to come home. She said the prison can be scary but she’s just trying to keep her head down,” Danielle said.

A GoFundMe was set up by the family to help with legal fees and travel costs to Dubai but was recently taken offline for violating the site’s terms about funding legal defences for certain offences.