Mother to be deported over cup of tea

A British mother is set to be deported from Dubai without her children after having a cup of tea with a male friend.

Marnie Pearce, 40, began a three-month jail sentence on February 27 for "adultery" after her Egyptian husband Ihab El Labban told authorities she was having an affair, a claim which she denies.

Mr El Labban made the accusation last March after he burst into her Dubai villa with police officers to find his separated wife having a cup of tea with a male friend.

She insists the man, a fellow Briton, was simply fixing her computer.

At the time the estranged couple were battling for custody over their boys, Ziad, 4, and Laith, 7.

After the March incident, Ms Pearce claimed her husband took possession of the family home and she and her sons were forced to stay in a shelter before seeking refuge with a friend.

Yesterday friends of the British woman released a video clip showing the drama outside the Dubai prosecutor's office in February when Ms Pearce, in a pre-arranged handover, surrendered her two children to her husband just before she was locked up.

The woman is seen collapsing to the ground and weeping.

"Why are you torturing the children like this?" Mr El-Labban asks her as the children cling to their mother in the clip.

As his car pulls away with the boys inside, Ms Pearce is left crying on the carpark pavement.

"I've given up my babies and cannot take much more of this. I have done nothing wrong," UK newspaper The Sun reported Ms Pearce as saying.

"I have no one so I have to give them to Ihab. But I know in doing so, I may never see them again."

One legal appeal has already been dismissed, although a court did agree to reduce her original six-month sentence to three months.

Once Ms Pearce is released it is likely she will be immediately deported to England — preventing her from seeing her children.

A court heard Marnie's most recent appeal on Monday last week and a verdict is expected by March 16.

Amnesty International has condemned Ms Pearce's jail term, labelling her a "prisoner of conscience" and demanding her immediate release.

Ms Pearce, a teaching assistant, met Mr El Labban 16 years ago in Oman, married shortly after and moved to Dubai.

The marriage broke down last year.