British woman jailed in Dubai for 25 years ‘for single line of coke’

Mia was at a party in Dubai before the police showed up (Picture: GoFundMe)

A British law student has been given a life sentence in Dubai after being ‘busted at a party’, a prison cellmate has said.

Mia O’Brien, 24, from Huyton, Merseyside, was given the harsh sentence after being caught with 50 grams of cocaine in the United Arab Emirates city last October.

The law student at the University of Liverpool is now at Al-Awir central prison along with a British mum who told The Sun Mia was partying and having fun before police showed up.

Mia’s former cellmate told the outlet: ‘There was drugs at the party and she said to me “I took drugs.” Mia knew she was in big trouble but didn’t seem to think she would be treated as a dealer.’

Mia O’Brien has been jailed in Dubai for 25 years for ‘a single line of coke,’ a former cellmate revealed

She added that Mia, who visited Dubai on holiday and was there for only a few days before being arrested, maintained that she did not deal any drugs.

‘If what she’s saying is true and all she has done is a line of cocaine, 25 years is a horrifically long sentence,’ the cellmate said.

Mia was convicted by a judge at a day-long trial held in Arabic on July 25.

It is understood Mia was arrested with her friend, and her friend’s boyfriend, who has also been given a life sentence, which in the UAE can last up to 25 years.

Mia O’Brien, a law student in Liverpool, was on holiday in Dubai when police showed up at the flat she was partying in and detaining her for possessing the Class A drug

The cellmate claims Mia had fallen out with her friend and said the boyfriend was in possession of the Class A drug.

She said her friend returned to the UK after testing negative for cocaine and released without charge.

The British mum who was held in the same jail described the prison as ‘vile’ and with ‘no light’.

Mia O’Brien’s mother, Danielle McKenna (pictured right), set up two fundraisers to help fund legal aid for her daughter, but both were taken down by the crowdfunder

Mia’s mother, Danielle McKenna, set up two fundraisers to help pay for her daughter’s legal aid and for a family member to visit her.

However, both were removed after they failed to comply with website rules which bans campaigns for funds for the defence of ‘certain crimes.’

Her mum previously revealed during a visit to the UAE, Mia was now ‘paying the price’ after getting ‘mixed up in the wrong so-called friends.’

As well as a life-sentence, the mother revealed in a video several months ago, Mia was also given a fine of 500,000 dirhams.

Dubai operates a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs, with visitors even prosecuted for substances found in their blood.

Sentences range from a three-month prison sentence and a fine for even the smallest offences to death.

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