British student jailed for life in Dubai, fundraising for legal costs

A 23-year-old British law student has been sentenced to life in prison in Dubai, her family said, and her mother has launched an online appeal for funds to cover legal and travel costs as she seeks to support her daughter. Mia OBrien, from Huyton, Liverpool, is being held in Dubai Central Prison and was recently transferred to another facility, her mother, Danielle McKenna, said in posts on a fundraising page and in an interview with a British newspaper. McKenna said she has not seen her daughter since October.

McKenna, 46, described her daughter as a university student who "unfortunately got mixed up in the wrong so-called friends and made a very stupid mistake" and asked for donations to help with legal fees and to get family members to Dubai. The fundraising appeal set a target of 1,600 and had raised just under 700 before the page was removed. A GoFundMe spokesperson said the campaign was taken down because it violated the platform's rules prohibiting certain types of fundraising, including for the legal defence of some alleged crimes.

The exact nature of OBrien's conviction has not been disclosed by family or authorities. Officials in the United Arab Emirates can impose...