UAE accuses Briton of posing as academic to spy for rival power
A BRITISH student has been charged in the United Arab Emirates with posing as an academic researcher in order to spy for a foreign government.
Matthew Hedges, 31, who is studying for a PHD at Durham University, was arrested at Dubai airport on May 5 and has been held in solitary confinement.
Hamad al-shamsi, the UAE attorney general, said that Mr Hedges had been charged with “spying for, and on behalf of, a foreign state” in an act that “jeopardises the military, economic and political security of the UAE”.
He claimed Mr Hedges had been attempting during his trip to secure confidential information to potentially pass to a foreign agency, without naming which one. Mr Hedges’s case has been referred to the Court of Appeal, where he is due to appear on Oct 24.
Daniela Tejada, his wife, said yesterday that she has yet to be sent any official confirmation of the charges from either the UAE or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
She has protested that her husband is innocent, saying he was visiting the UAE exclusively for academic research purposes and had been detained without charge for more than five months.
Mr Hedges, originally from Exeter, was researching the impact of the Arab Spring on the UAE’S foreign policy and security strategy. Colleagues believe he is being held on charges of spying for Qatar, a state with which the UAE has severed all relations.
Anwar Gargash, the Emirates’ foreign affairs minister, posted a cryptic message on Twitter last week claiming that Mr Hedges was being held after “unusual and embarrassing revelations about friends and allies”.
Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, is understood to have personally raised Mr Hedges’s case with his UAE counterpart. The Daily Telegraph understands the UK government does not believe the charges against him.
Colombian-born Mrs Tejada, who met Mr Hedges at Exeter University in 2010, has said he is suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts.
She said she has been allowed to visit him just once in prison, where she said he was shaking and could not look her in the eye.