British Law Student Mia O’Brien Jailed 25 Years in Dubai for Drug Offenses Amid Family’s Cry of Injustice

The quiet town of Huyton, Merseyside, has been thrust into the international spotlight after 23-year-old law student Mia O’Brien was sentenced to 25 years in a Dubai prison on drug charges, a ruling her family describes as a “miscarriage of justice.”

O’Brien, who was arrested in October 2024 after Dubai police allegedly discovered 50 grams of cocaine in an apartment she was visiting, was convicted during a one-day hearing in July 2025.

The trial, conducted entirely in Arabic, ended with a guilty verdict despite her plea of innocence. In addition to her prison sentence, she was fined £100,000, a staggering punishment that underscores the United Arab Emirates’ zero-tolerance stance on drug crimes.

For her mother, Danielle McKenna, the sentence is nothing short of a nightmare. McKenna insists her daughter is not a drug user and claims she was simply “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” She maintains Mia was caught up with the wrong crowd and is now paying the price for a crime she did not commit. “This is not justice — my daughter’s life is being destroyed over something she had no part in,” McKenna said, vowing to fight until her daughter is free.

The family has already begun the process of appealing the verdict, though the path ahead looks daunting. McKenna revealed she launched an online fundraiser to cover mounting legal fees and send money to her daughter in prison, only for GoFundMe to delete the campaign for violating its terms of service. A fresh fundraiser, run directly by her family, has since been established in hopes of rallying community and international support.

The case has ignited fresh debate about the UAE’s uncompromising anti-drug laws, which mete out some of the harshest penalties in the world. In Dubai, even trace amounts of illicit substances can result in years behind bars, a reality that has long been criticized by rights groups for its rigidity and lack of nuance.

For Mia O’Brien, once a promising law student with dreams of a legal career, the future now hangs on an appeal that may be her last chance at freedom. For her family, it is a fight against time, the system, and a sentence they say has torn their world apart.