Concern over student held in UAE

Britain’s foreign secretary yesterday said he was “very worried” about the fate of a British student who, according to his wife, has been detained in the United Arab Emirates without charge since May.

Matthew Hedges, a 31-year-old PhD student who was researching the UAE’s foreign and internal security policies after the Arab Spring revolutions, was stopped at Dubai Airport on May 5.

“We are...very worried about Hedges,” Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said. “I’ve spoken to the UAE foreign minister twice now on this matter face to face so they are very aware of our concerns and we are monitoring it very closely,” he said.

“Obviously every country has a judicial process and, just like in the UK, in the UAE the judiciary operates independently of the politicians and we respect that. But we have a duty to make sure we are doing everything we can to make sure British citizens have due process,” he added.

Hedges’ wife Daniela Tejada, who has visited him once and spoken to him on the phone a few times, said: “He simply isn’t guilty of anything. He was just doing academic research”.

Following reports in British media that he has been accused of spying, Tejada said his research involved only open resources. “He’s not disclosed anything...classified or confidential,” she said, adding that Hedges had lived in the UAE for “several years” before he returned to Britain in 2015.

Tejada said Hedges was diagnosed with depression and anxiety shortly before travelling to the UAE for his research.

She said he had been allowed to take anti-depressants in prison, but added: “My big concern is that without the appropriate psychiatric treatment the effects of medication are not only not effective but can actually be counter-productive”. Tejada said Hedges had been kept in solitary confinement “nearly the entire time”.

Stuart Corbridge, vice-chancellor of Durham University in northern England where Hedges is a student, voiced concern. “We are seriously concerned about Matt’s welfare and wellbeing and we remain in close contact with the family,” he said.