MIA O’Brien’s mum has launched a fresh fundraiser to visit the Brit law student in a notorious Dubai prison – while also lashing out at online “haters”.
Danielle McKenna set up a new page on Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo after GoFundMe suddenly pulled her earlier appeal.
GoFundMeMia O’Brien pictured with her mum Danielle[/caption]
GoFundMeMia was planning to be a lawyer, her mum said[/caption]
GoFundMeShe was convicted of drug dealing in Dubai[/caption]
Mia, from Huyton, Merseyside, was handed a 25-year sentence in July after being caught with 50g of cocaine – worth around £2,500 in the UK – inside her Dubai apartment last October.
The 23-year-old was also slapped with a £100,000 fine before being locked up in Al-Awir Central Prison, dubbed the Gulf state’s “Alcatraz”.
Her devastated mum insists her daughter is innocent, branding the case a “miscarriage of justice” and claiming Mia had simply made “a very stupid mistake” while visiting a friend and her boyfriend.
On her new fundraiser – dubbed the “Mia Rose fund” – Danielle wrote: “Hi, as everyone knows by now, Mia has been given a life sentence in Dubai, and is now in central prison.
“I am asking for your help, so that family can get over to Dubai to visit Mia, as we haven’t seen her since last October, and it would also really help with any other fees that we may face a long the way.
“Even if it’s only a £1 it could help us massively. Thank you so much.”
The target has been set at £5,000 – but by Wednesday morning just £55 had been raised.
Sharing the link on Facebook, Danielle blasted her critics, saying: “This is my little girl, my first born and only daughter, I would and will fight for my kids ’till the day I die.
“So to all you haters, let’s hope Karma doesn’t come knocking on your door, your nasty comments do not hurt or affect my life, so you won’t get a reaction or response from me.
“And if that’s what you’re after, maybe get in touch with the Samaritans help line if you’re that sad and lonely. Much love to you all.”
The new appeal comes after GoFundMe axed the family’s first fundraiser – which had raised nearly £700 of its £1,600 goal – for “violating guidelines”.
A GoFundMe spokesperson told The Sun: “It was removed because it violates Term 9 of the Prohibited Conduct section in our Terms of Service.
“Term 9 prohibits raising funds on GoFundMe for the legal defence of certain alleged crimes.”
Furious at the decision, Danielle previously said: “I am going to set up my own, as they [GoFundMe] are nitpicking at everything.”
TikTokDanielle previously pleaded on social media with this picture, saying: ‘Always and forever, I will keep fighting for you, my baby girl’[/caption]
FacebookMia was caught with 50g of cocaine last year[/caption]
FacebookMia O’Brien was handed a 25 year prison sentence in United Arab Emirates[/caption]
Mia, a Liverpool University law student who dreamed of becoming a solicitor, is now locked up with six other women and reportedly forced to sleep on the floor with only a mattress and pillow.
Her mum claims conditions are dire: “The prison conditions are horrendous.
“There are no staff really and she has to bang on a big door if she needs anything. She’s seen fights and said she has been really scared.”
Danielle says Mia often breaks down on the phone, crying and pleading for her mum’s forgiveness.
The family are now clinging to hope of an appeal or clemency deal that could bring Mia back to the UK.
Danielle said: “Mia is being really brave about it but she really misses her two young brothers who are aged just five and seven.
AFPThe Al-Awir prison is notorious for facing dozens of horror allegations of abuse, torture and rape from former inmates[/caption]
Inside ‘Dubai’s version of Alcatraz’
MIA O’Brien has been locked up in the Al-Awir Central Prison in Dubai.
The jail is used for both male and female convicts with them being seperated once they step through the chilling gates.
Women make up one of the four blocks inside the huge jail, according to the British Government website.
Horror stories from inmates who have previously been locked up and those from the families of Brits still trapped behind bars paint a disturbing picture of Al-Awir.
In 2012, Karl Williams was imprisoned for a year after police found drugs in the boot of his hire car.
He compared the Al-Awir jail to the “Dubai version of Alcatraz” during his sentence.
In his memoir, he recalled seeing inmates being stabbed to death in violent clashes that were not stopped by guards.
In a statement, he said that his testicles had been electrocuted while he was interrogated by police.
“They pulled down my trousers, spread my legs and started to electrocute my testicles,” he wrote in the statement.
“It was unbelievably painful. I was so scared. I started to believe that I was going to die in that room.”
Their lawyers also said that the men were forced to sign documents in Arabic at gunpoint.
Karl claimed Russian gangsters ruled the prison wards and allegedly used HIV-positive inmates to rape and deliberately infect others as a form of punishment.
At least four HIV-positive prisoners at Al-Awir were allegedly denied medication up to five months, according to another shocking report by the Human Rights Watch.
British footballer Billy Hood made similar accusations as he said prisoners were tortured and left to die from diseases.
His claims were repeated in 2021 by 60-year-old Albert Douglas who told The Sun Online prisoners are raped, tortured and even starved by the cruel guards.
Dubai’s prison system and government deny all the claims.
“She just wants to come home. I want her home too – she’s my only daughter.”
But questions continue to swirl around Mia’s case.
She was arrested alongside a friend and the friend’s boyfriend, yet only her name has been made public.
The timing has also raised eyebrows, with her ordeal kept under wraps for months until her family went public with an appeal.
And while prosecutors said 50g of cocaine was found in her apartment, her mum insists her daughter was simply “caught up in it” — leaving doubts over who really owned the drugs.
GoFundMeMia’s mum maintains her daughter’s innocence[/caption]
FacebookA young Mia pictured at a birthday party[/caption]