Academic jailed in UAE was not a spy, says MI6 chief
THE head of MI6 said yesterday that Matthew Hedges, the academic jailed for spying in the Gulf, was not a British agent.
In a rare public speech – only his second in four years in the job – Alex Younger, the Chief of MI6 said he was “perplexed” as to why the United Arab Emirates had accused Mr Hedges of being one of his spies.
The PHD student was jailed for life at the end of last month, accused of spying for Britain, plunging the UK and UAE into a diplomatic crisis. Mr Hedges, who spent almost six months in solitary confinement after being arrested in May, was released after a presidential pardon.
Mr Younger, who as head of MI6 is known as C, said of the allegation against Mr Hedges: “We were perplexed. There are going to be some frank conversations ahead of us.”
He added: “I genuinely can’t understand how our Emirati partners came to the conclusions they came to.”
Mr Hedges, 31, and Daniela Tejada, 27, his wife, welcomed Mr Younger’s intervention. In a statement, the couple said: “We really hope this means the British Government will get to the bottom of why one of their innocent citizens was held in such inhumane conditions for such a long time by a socalled ally.”
In his talk to students at St Andrew’s University, Mr Younger also raised concerns about British reliance on Chinese 5G technology. “Power, money and politics are heading East. It’s something for us to adjust to,” he said.
Yesterday’s warning by Alex Younger, the head of MI6, about the continued threat rogue states like Russia pose to British security raises questions as to whether the UK’S intelligence services are doing enough to counter that threat.
In a rare public speech, Mr Younger said that Britain faces “adversaries who regard themselves as being in a state of perpetual confrontation”. Top among these is Russia, which earlier this year was blamed for carrying out the Salisbury nerve agent attack against Russian defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. “I urge Russia or any other state intent on subverting our way of life not to underestimate our determination and our capabilities,” said Mr Younger.
It was these “capabilities” that enabled MI6 to collect sufficient evidence that Russia’s GRU military intelligence service was responsible for the Salisbury attack to persuade Britain’s allies to endorse the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats by way of retaliation. This was the most comprehensive anti-moscow action seen since the end of the Cold War.
While this demonstrated the West’s resolve to confront Russia, questions remain over whether the British authorities are doing enough to counter the Russian threat. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson felt the need to call on the public to report suspicious activity around military bases after a reporter with Russia’s RT television network, a Kremlin-run propaganda outfit, was reported to be filming near a sensitive Army base in Berkshire. Britain has also been lax in its handling of individuals with close ties to the Kremlin.