A British woman jailed in the United Arab Emirates for adultery could be freed early, according to reports.
Marnie Pearce, 40, will be able to stay in the country to fight for custody of her two sons after a Dubai court found she had cheated on her Egyptian ex-husband and sentenced her to three months in prison.
Her former husband, Ihab El Labban, was granted custody of the couple's boys, Laith, eight, and Ziad, four, last month.
But, in an apparent U-turn, her sentence has been cut short for good behaviour, meaning she may be freed as early as Monday, according to the Sunday Mirror. She had been due for release in early May.
The development comes after Dubai authorities promised on Thursday to review the custody case and a deportation order against her.
Pearce, originally from Bracknell, Berkshire, protests her innocence and was fighting the deportation order as she believes staying in Dubai would give her the best chance of regaining custody of her sons.
Her case has caught the attention of human rights campaigners, including the Amnesty International, who describe her as a "prisoner of conscience".
Her supporters had planned to hand a petition to the United Arab Emirates embassy in London on Thursday calling for her to be allowed access to her children.
But they suspended the action after receiving an assurance that the Dubai authorities were reviewing their position about Pearce's custody case and the deportation order.
Pearce met her ex-husband in Oman and the couple married in the Seychelles in September 1999.
But their marriage eventually broke down and in March last year she was arrested and accused of committing adultery with a British man who she insists was only a friend.
She was found guilty of adultery by a Dubai court in November and lost appeals against her conviction in January and March.
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