‘Spy’ tortured for months in Gulf jail says: I thought of hanging myself in cell
THE academic jailed for life as a British spy in Abu Dhabi dreamt of hanging himself in his cell after months of torture, he has revealed.
Matthew Hedges’s lowest ebb came two weeks ago, after six months of solitary confinement, being force-fed drugs, shackled and blindfolded, and made to confess to being an MI6 ‘captain’.
His captors in the United Arab Emirates even demanded the 31year-old PhD student turn doubleagent and steal British secrets.
Back in Britain, his wife, Daniela Tejada, was battling in private to free him. Mr Hedges last night paid tribute to the ‘incredible and strong’ 27year-old, whose decision to go public helped secure his release.
‘This was the most traumatic thing that any of us could have ever gone through and knowing that we had each other’s support throughout is the only thing that kept us going,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘Dani has proven herself to be the most incredible and strong woman to deal with both my detention and the public interest in my case.
‘After many months of silence, she decided to go to the public with it and I know how difficult a decision this was for her and our families.’ Speaking in London nine days after being pardoned and released by the Gulf state’s rulers, Mr Hedges recalled the terrifying moment the life sentence was handed down in a five-minute hearing in an Abu Dhabi courtroom on November 21.
‘It was complete and total shock,’ he said. ‘I was rushed out of the court and put in a car and taken back to the same interrogation room I was held in for the previous six months, and then I was subsequently interrogated the following day. Nothing was making sense.
‘I couldn’t process it. I was having quite bad panic attacks and felt I was choking, I couldn’t breathe, and that night I dreamt I was hanging myself in that cell.’
The Durham University student said his panic attacks had begun shortly after his arrest at Dubai airport on May 5, on his way home from a two-week trip to research his thesis on the UAE’s security policies.
After a coffee with his mother, who had lived in Dubai, he was waving goodbye to her when ten Emirati officials surrounded him and took out a blindfold and handcuffs. His mother alerted the British embassy.
He recalled: ‘The scary reality is, if I hadn’t gone with my mother, or if they’d decided to pick me up after going through the gate, no one would have known where I was.
‘My panic attacks started in the first week of interrogation, when they propositioned me to steal official documentation from the Foreign Office. I said, “I don’t work for the Foreign Office, I don’t know how you think this would be possible”.’
He told Radio 4’ s Today programme: ‘I had asked for a lawyer on multiple occasions. I had denied continuously for over a week that I worked for the UK government.’
Mr Hedges said during weeks of interrogation, he was made to stand all day in ankle cuffs and threatened
‘Made to stand in ankle cuffs’
with being taken to an overseas military base where he would be beaten ‘and never see daylight again’.
Tormented by fluorescent lights in his cell, he resorted to plunging himself into darkness for up to 23 hours a day, turning on the light only to eat.
he was also given high doses of xanax and valium, which made him paranoid and caused him to have seizures and suicidal thoughts.
Mr hedges said: When I was transported between different premises, I was blindfolded and handcuffed. When I had tried to tell the truth to the interrogators, their reaction was to make me stand all day in ankle cuffs. It was mentally exhausting. Psychologically it felt like torture.’
eventually he confessed to being an MI6 spy. he said: ‘I couldn’t take it any more, and I wasn’t sure if they just wanted me to sign a piece of paper and they will just let me go.
‘They said, “If you admit things and tell us what we want to hear, we will make it easier for you”. So at that point, I had no other option. I confessed to being an MI6 agent.
‘They asked what rank I was and said, “Are you a first lieutenant, a second lieutenant, captain, major?”.’
MI6 does not use military ranks for its intelligence officers. Mr hedges said: ‘I panicked and said I’m a captain. Just telling them whatever they wanted to hear.’
Asked if he had been ‘naive’ to conduct such sensitive research in the UAe’s authoritarian regime, he said: ‘No. I had worked there for a number of years, I had been comfortable, my family lived there for a while.’
The emiratis pardoned him on November 26 following threats of ‘serious consequences’ from Foreign Secretary Jeremy hunt, but they insisted he remained a convicted spy.
As well has his PhD studies, Mr hedges had a job at an exeter-based cybersecurity company, but denied his research trip was anything other than academic work.
he and his wife are demanding that UK diplomats overhaul the way they help imprisoned Britons in future.
‘You’ll never see daylight again’
Miss Tejada said at first the Foreign Office would not even share details of her husband’s imprisonment due to the Data Protection Act – saying she needed his permission.
She told The Times she asked how she was supposed to seek the authorisation of her husband, when she did not even know his whereabouts.
She also criticised diplomats for putting pressure on her to stay silent for months. Once she went public, her husband was released in weeks. ‘It mustn’t happen again,’ she said.
The Foreign Office said it had to work ‘in line with our legal obligations,’ adding: ‘Our dedicated consular staff do all they can to assist people in very distressing circumstances who ask for our help.’
Mr hedges said he planned to ‘try and relax’ now but in the New Year will start efforts to clear his name.
his conviction for spying will make it difficult for him to travel abroad.
he has asked a London QC, Rodney Dixon, to explore ‘all legal options and remedies’ including suing the UAe for false imprisonment.
Speaking to the Mail last night, he said: ‘We wanted to thank the public, the media and the academic community for their overwhelming support and shed light on the conditions in which I was being kept.’