Mia O’Brien: British student gets 25 years in Dubai prison after cocaine bust at party Matt ShrivellThe NightlySat, 13 September 2025 8:20AMCommentsComments
A British law student has been sentenced to 25 years’ jail in Dubai for reportedly taking “a single line of cocaine”.
Mia O’Brien faces the prospect of lingering inside a prison cell until 2050 after she was caught using cocaine in the Middle Eastern country with some of the toughest drug laws in the world.
Another prisoner inside the jail has spoken to The Sun and conveyed that the 24-year-old told her “they were at a party and having fun, and suddenly police turned up and put her in a car.
“There were 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.
“She seemed to take the view that while she had taken coke, she wasn’t dealing drugs.
“That’s how she acted in the detention centre.
“If what she’s saying is true and all she has done is a line of cocaine, 25 years is a horrifically long sentence. She said she was visiting on holiday and had only been there a few days.”
Ms O’Brien, 24, was found guilty and handed the 25-year term after a one-day trial held in Arabic on July 25..
Following her conviction, Ms O’Brien was moved to Al Awir jail, after months being held at the Al Barsha police detention centre.
“Mia had fallen out with her friend as she said it was the boyfriend who had the cocaine,” her cellmate told The Sun after being released following detention for leaving the scene of a car crash.
“Her problem was that they had all been arrested and Mia had it in her system.
“Her friend didn’t so she was released and is back in the UK. Mia thinks she must have stitched her up to get home.
“There is no light and the toilets are vile. One area is full of people who know they have been caught doing something and are going to be jailed for a long time,” the woman added.
Mia’s sentence and £100,000 fine only came to light this month when her mother Danielle McKenna, 46, of Huyton, Liverpool, launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to try to get the verdict overturned.
Mia’s friend, known only as Emma, tested negative for cocaine and was released without charge. Her boyfriend got the same 25-year jail term as Mia.
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