Dubai adultery charges called bogus

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A British expatriate fighting a Dubai prison sentence for adultery says she has been wrongly accused by her husband.

Marnie Pearce, 40, sentenced to six months in prison by an Arab court, has launched an appeal with the help of a British member of Parliament to fight the sentence and retain custody rights of her two sons, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday.

Unable to leave Dubai with the sentence hanging over her, Pearce told the newspaper she has been "going through hell for nine months and I just want to get my children out."

"I am so scared that if I go to jail I will never see them again," she said.

Pearce maintains she is innocent of the adultery charges leveled against her by her Egyptian husband, saying her supposed affair was a figment of his imagination. The couple separated last year and are now divorced, the British newspaper said.

The man alleged to have been involved in the affair was never contacted, Pearce claims. Convicted of adultery last month and sentenced to six months in prison, she began an appeal on Christmas Day while the case was adjourned until Jan. 8, the Telegraph reported.