Matthew Hedges: jailed British academic pardoned by UAE

The British academic Matthew Hedges handed a life sentence in the United Arab Emirates for spying has been pardoned by the country’s president.

The announcement was made at a press conference in Abu Dhabi.

The move follows lobbying over the weekend by the British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who spoke to the UAE’s foreign minister on Sunday. A British Foreign Office spokesman described those talks as “constructive”.

There had been speculation the UAE could release Hedges on its national day, 2 December.

The Hedges family had pleaded for clemency last week, and hoped Hedges would be included in the releases. He was detained at Dubai airport on 5 May and has been kept in solitary confinement for the bulk of the past six months.

His wife, Daniela Tejada, has complained the Foreign Office did little to secure his release until she mounted a public campaign to highlight the treatment of her husband by one of the UK’s closest Gulf allies. She had launched an online petition to secure his release, and a growing number of universities have been reviewing their links with the UAE.

Source: The Guardian