Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
UK student gets life for ‘spying’ in five-minute trial
Distraught wife: He’s innocent
I am in complete shock. Matt is innocent. The UAE should feel ashamed for this injustice DANIELA TEJADA MR HEDGES’ WIFE SPEAKING AFTER DECISION
A BRITISH student shook as he was jailed for life for spying in Abu Dhabi, with his wife insisting he is innocent.
In a hearing lasting just five minutes, Matthew Hedges received the 25-year sentence after being arrested at Dubai airport during a research visit in May.
Mr Hedges, who suffers various illnesses, could be seen to tremble in the Abu Dhabi courtroom when the shock sentence was delivered.
The PHD student, 31, had been researching the UAE’S foreign and internal security policies after the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions when he was detained.
PM Theresa May told Parliament that she is “deeply disappointed at the verdict” and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt pledged to raise the matter with the UAE.
Mr Hunt said: “This verdict is not what we expect from a friend of the UK and there will be serious consequences. We will do all we can to get Matthew home as soon as possible.”
Mr Hedges’ devastated wife Daniela Tejada, who was in court for the sentencing yesterday, said: “I am in complete shock.
“Matthew is innocent. The Foreign Office know this and have made it clear to the UAE authorities that Matthew is not a spy.
“The British Government must take a stand now for Matthew.
“They say that the UAE is an ally but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matt’s case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price.
“The UAE should feel ashamed for such an obvious injustice. I am very scared for Matt.”
Mr Hedges was released on bail in October but had been held in solitary confinement for five months. It is believed he faced appalling conditions in Abu Dhabi’s Al Wathba prison, with poor food and medication, and no mattress, meaning he was forced to sleep on the floor.
Relatives say his mental and physical health have seriously deteriorated and he was fed a cocktail of medication.
Mr Hedges, of Durham University, insists he was made to sign a confession in Arabic that he did not understand.
It was reported he had been arrested after an Emirati man told police he had been asking for sensitive information.
Mr Hedges is a doctoral student in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham.
Vice-chancellor Prof Stuart Corbridge said: “Following a period in which [Matt] was detained in conditions which breached his human rights, this judgment has been delivered in the absence of anything resembling due process or a fair trial.”
The UAE is a tourism and trade hub but tolerates little criticism of its ruling families or policies.