British TikToker charged with murder in Dubai, could face death penalty; claims she acted in self-defence | World News

A British TikTok star has been charged with premeditated murder in Dubai after she was stabbed to death while meeting a British man in the UAE.Brooke George, a 23-year-old woman from Gravesend, Kent, denied intentionally killing her partner and said she acted in self-defence during the alleged violent attack, the BBC reported.George was arrested in the early hours of June 22 and remains detained in Dubai. Under UAE law, premeditated murder is punishable by death.According to the BBC, citing advocacy group Detained in Dubai, George and the 26-year-old met online before starting a relationship. The group claimed the relationship became abusive during her second visit to Dubai.Radha Stirling, chief executive of Dubai Detention Centre, said George claimed her partner became controlling, withheld her passport and physically assaulted her. The group said George told investigators she feared for her life and used a kitchen knife in self-defense during the incident.George, who was detained in Dubai, urged UAE authorities to release him on bail and investigate the case in the context of alleged domestic violence. The group also said she should receive legal representation, medical care and full UK consular assistance while the investigation continues.George also claimed she was forced to take off her clothes in front of male officers while in custody, without a female officer present. Detained in Dubai, she called the accusation deeply distressing and said it raised concerns about her treatment.Her mother, Teresa George, said she noticed a significant change in her daughter’s behavior during her second trip to Dubai. She said Brooke had appeared unusually quiet and scared in the hours before the incident and later contacted her in a panic, with visible facial injuries.“She was absolutely terrified,” her mother said, adding that she believed her daughter had been trying to return to the UK before the incident.Stirling said family and friends were increasingly concerned that George might have been lured to Dubai under false pretenses, saying his partner’s behavior had changed and he had repeatedly expressed fears.The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has confirmed it is assisting a British woman detained in the UAE.A spokesman for the FCDO said: “We are in contact with a British woman detained in the UAE and we are supporting her family and we are in contact with local authorities.”Dubai authorities are still investigating the case. George has been charged, but a verdict has not yet been reached, and the allegations made by her and Dubai detainees have yet to be tested in court.