Huddersfield Daily Examiner

PM ‘concerned’ by Brit jailed in UAE

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Secretary of State was not using his account and his time for Government business.

“I got Tyrion Lannister!” reads the link in Mr Gove’s tweet from the online quiz Who’s Your Game Of Thrones Soulmate?. APPLE customers were left unable to use some of its major services after a technical issue stopped them accessing the App Store and Apple Music.

The company said there was a “temporary issue” with the services – used by tens of millions of people worldwide – in the early hours yesterday.

The App Store and Apple Music were affected by the problem between 1.20am and 1.52am, the firm said. Some customers were left unable to download or stream films and music during the outage. THE Duchess of Sussex told cooks at a community kitchen of her pride in their work, as they lovingly told her that her baby will be considered their “grandchild”.

Meghan made a return visit to the west London kitchen which inspired her collaborat­ive work on a Grenfell charity cookbook.

It was her first official trip to the Hubb Community Kitchen, not far from the site of the deadly tower block blaze in west London.

She had previously paid a number of secret visits before the cookbook was published in September.

It was the first time many of the women had seen the PRIME Minister Theresa May has said she is “deeply disappoint­ed and concerned” about the case of a British academic jailed for life in the United Arab Emirates.

Matthew Hedges, 31, who is accused of spying on behalf of the British Government, was shaking as he was sentenced to life imprisonme­nt in a five-minute hearing at an Abu Dhabi court yesterday, according to his wife Daniela Tejada.

She said the couple’s “nightmare has gotten even worse” as Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt urged the UAE to reconsider the sentence.

Mrs May told MPs: “The Foreign Office will remain in close contact with Matthew, his family and his lawyer.

“We will continue to do all we can to support them as they consider the next steps and we will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis.”

Mr Hunt said consular officials had been in contact with Mr Hedges’ family and added he was “deeply shocked” at the verdict, having personally raised the case with the UAE government.

“Today’s verdict is not what we expect from a friend and trusted partner of the expectant mother since her pregnancy was announced, and they were quick to congratula­te her.

Ahlam Saeid, whose family recipe of rainbow roasted vegetables Meghan helped prepare at the kitchen, told of her of her joy.

After meeting Meghan, the 61-year-old grandmothe­r, who United Kingdom and runs contrary to earlier assurances,” he said.

Ms Tejada, who was in court during the hearing, said: “I am in complete shock and I don’t know what to do. Matthew is innocent. The Foreign Office know this and have made it clear to the UAE authoritie­s that Matthew is not a spy for them.

“This whole case has been handled appallingl­y from the very beginning with no one taking Matthew’s case seriously.

“The British Government must take a stand now for Matthew, one of their citizens... I don’t know where they are taking him or what will happen now. Our nightmare has gotten even worse.”

The Middle Eastern studies specialist is originally from Iraq, said: “I told her this is our grandchild, we are so happy. The whole community. And she is so happy.”

Meghan, who spent about 45 minutes at the kitchen, was also given a traditiona­l Ugandan cloth to wrap around her stomach in the months after she gives birth. from Durham University visited the country to research his PhD thesis and was arrested at Dubai Airport on May 5.

His family’s representa­tive said he was held in solitary confinemen­t for over five and a half months, during which his “mental and physical health seriously deteriorat­ed”.

Professor Stuart Corbridge, vice-Chancellor of Durham University, said they were “devastated” by the sentence.

He said: “Following a period in which he 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.

“There has been no informatio­n given on what basis Matt was handed this sentence and no reason to believe that Matt was conducting anything other than legitimate academic research.”

Ben Ward, acting UK director at Human Rights Watch, said: “British authoritie­s should closely monitor Hedges’s appeal and insist upon his humane treatment in prison, proper access to a lawyer, and that coerced statements not be used as evidence against him.”

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