A former imam at a Kent mosque was jailed for 10 years after being convicted of sexually abusing four young girls, and a British law student was sentenced to 25 years in a Dubai prison on drug offences after a one-day hearing held in Arabic, authorities and reports said.
Qari Sher Mohammad, 61, who served as imam at the Muslim Community Centre in Chatham, Kent, was convicted on 16 counts at Canterbury Crown Court in March 2025 and was sentenced to 10 years in custody this week. Prosecutors said he targeted children over an extended period and that concerns about his behaviour were first raised in 2018 when one victim, then a child, disclosed that he had sexually touched her during his spiritual duties.
Authorities said the initial reported assault occurred inside a mosque on Thorold Road between March 2014 and October 2016. Mohammad was arrested and interviewed in April 2016 but was not charged at that time amid concerns over the potential impact of a trial on the young victim. Between May 2022 and December 2023 he is alleged to have sexually assaulted three additional children; he was arrested on Dec. 11, 2023. After the earlier complainant, now an adult, indicated she wished to support police prosecution, Mohammad was charged and tried.
He denied the offences but was found guilty. Sentencing records show he will be subject to a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order on release. Detective Constable Conor Middleton said Mohammad had been in a position of authority when the offences were committed and commended the victims and their parents for assisting the investigation.
Separately, in the United Arab Emirates, 24-year-old British law student Mia O'Brien of Huyton, Merseyside, was sentenced to 25 years in Dubai Central Prison following a one-day hearing held in Arabic on July 25, authorities and account holders said. O'Brien was arrested at a party last October after police found 50 grams of cocaine, and a court ordered her to pay a 500,000-dirham fine, equivalent to just over £100,000.
Supporters and some fellow inmates have since said O'Brien claimed she had taken only a single line of cocaine when arrested. An ex-cellmate quoted in reports said O'Brien admitted to taking drugs but maintained she was not a dealer. The ex-cellmate and O'Brien's mother, Danielle McKenna, described overcrowded, difficult conditions at Al Barsha detention facilities and at Dubai Central Prison, also known as Al Awir, where O'Brien is being held.
Reports say O'Brien spent months in a police detention centre before transfer to Al Awir. Her mother launched an online fundraiser to help pay legal costs and the court-ordered fine; the fundraiser was removed by GoFundMe for breaching the platform's terms. Public records and reports indicate an appeal is due in the coming weeks.
Dubai Central Prison has been cited in past reports and accounts by former inmates as having harsh conditions, including overcrowding and limited access to medical care. Human rights campaigners and previous investigations have documented allegations of violence and inadequate treatment for prisoners, and a 2019 report said some inmates with serious health conditions were denied adequate care. A former British inmate, Karl Williams, has previously written about violent incidents and alleged mistreatment while detained there.
The two cases underscore differing legal environments and approaches to criminal justice. In the United Kingdom, prosecutors and police cited safeguarding concerns and the testimony of victims in a multi-year investigation that resulted in conviction and a custodial sentence. In the UAE, authorities enforce strict penalties for drug possession and trafficking; defendants have limited recourse to jury trials and proceedings are often conducted in Arabic.
Both matters remain subject to the usual legal processes. In Kent, officials have imposed post-release safeguards on the convicted imam. In Dubai, O'Brien's legal team and family are pursuing an appeal of the conviction and the financial penalty ordered by the court.