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Matthew Hedges: pardoned academic returns to UK Matthew Hedges: pardoned academic returns to UK
(35 minutes later)
A flight carrying the British academic Matthew Hedges landed at London Heathrow airport on Tuesday, a day after he was pardoned in the United Arab Emirates from a life sentence for spying, a Reuters photographer said. The British academic Matthew Hedges has returned to the UK, a day after he was pardoned and released in the United Arab Emirates after being sentenced to life in prison for spying.
The UAE pardoned Hedges on Monday after showing a video of him purportedly confessing to being a member of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency. Britain has denied he was a spy and welcomed his pardon. The UAE released Hedges, 31, on Monday after showing a video of him apparently confessing to being a member of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency. Britain has denied he was a spy and welcomed his pardon.
Hedges, a 31-year-old doctoral student at Durham University, had been held in the UAE since 5 May, when he was arrested at Dubai International airport after a two-week research visit. The move followed intense lobbying by the British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, amid an international outcry that left the UAE scrambling to produce evidence to justify claims that Hedges was a spy.
His family have cast him as a dedicated researcher who fell foul of the UAE’s security and justice system. The UAE said he was a British spy who was given a fair trial for grave espionage offences. Hedges’ family confirmed that he arrived back into the UK on a flight to Heathrow airport on Tuesday morning. He was welcomed by his wife, Daniela Tejada, and members of his family.
The case has strained ties between the long-time allies, leading London to issue a forceful diplomatic response after last week’s verdict was handed down, with a warning that it could hurt relations. Tejada said: “I am so happy to have my Matt home! Thank you once again for the overwhelming support we have received, especially from the embassy in the UAE and the Foreign Office in ensuring that Matt was safely returned home. We are overjoyed and exhausted!
The UAE president issued the pardon as part of a mass clemency of more than 700 prisoners to mark the country’s national day. “Thank you once again as well to the international community and the international media who were very supportive from the beginning. I hope you can all understand that Matt and I, as well as his family, really need some time to process everything that we have been through.
Britain’s foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, welcomed the pardon, which he called “fantastic news“. “No one should ever have to go through what he did and it will take him time to heal and recover. He is very overwhelmed. To say we are happy is an understatement.”
“Although we didn’t agree with charges, we are grateful to UAE government for resolving issue speedily,” Hunt said. Hedges said: “I don’t know where to begin with thanking people for securing my release. I have not seen or read much of what has been written over the past few days but Dani tells me the support has been incredible. Thank you so much to the British embassy and the FCO for their efforts in ensuring I arrived safely back home.
The UAE had signalled on Friday it was working on an “amicable solution” to the case after Theresa May had described last week’s sentence as deeply disappointing. “I could not have done this without Daniela. I hear her face is everywhere! She is so brave and strong, seeing her and my family after this ordeal is the best thing that could have happened. I thank you all once again. This is very surreal.”
Hedges’s wife, Daniela Tejada, had said he was kept in solitary confinement for more than five months and the evidence presented against him consisted of notes from his dissertation research. At a press conference on Monday, the UAE continued to insist Hedges was an MI6 agent, and played video footage showing him apparently confessing that he had been trying to discover military secrets, including about the UAE’s weapons purchases.
Last week’s hearing lasted less than five minutes, she said. The UAE said a “gracious clemency was granted on Sunday in response to a letter from the Hedges family bearing in mind the historical relationship between the UAE and the UK”.
The UAE’s ambassador to the UK disputed the account, saying the case was “extremely serious” and there had not been a “five-minute show trial“. It can now be revealed that UAE claims Hedges’ release could have been secured in the summer but was prolonged partly due to insufficient high-level assurances by the Foreign Office that he was not a spy.
Minutes before the pardon was announced on Monday, a UAE government spokesman showed journalists a video of Hedges purporting to confess to belonging to MI6 and researching which military systems the UAE was buying. It has been suggested that Boris Johnson, who was foreign secretary until 9 July, was not seen as a reliable pair of hands after he bungled aspects of the Foreign Office efforts to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
His family dispute the UAE account. They said Hedges was an academic whose dissertation research focused on sensitive topics in the UAE such as security structures, tribalism and the consolidation of political power in Abu Dhabi. Tejada has said she was “very cautious” about Johnson and concerned his “flippant comments would hurt Matt’s case”.
Like most Gulf states, the UAE brooks little public criticism of ruling family members, senior officials or policy and has prosecuted pro-democracy activists for what it calls insulting the country’s leaders. One Emirati source said :”This is a very peculiar case that has left scars on both sides, People feel genuinely hurt, and do not understand why it was not resolved back in July.”
The clemency was granted on Sunday by the UAE president, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and was one of more than 800 pardons granted by the Gulf state.
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