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Jaber al Lamki, Executive Director of Media and Strategic Communications of the United Arab Emirates, discusses the case of Matthew Hedges at a press conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Monday, November 26 2018. (Kamran Jebreili / AP)
Karla Adam
London correspondent covering the United Kingdom
LONDON – The British academic imprisoned for life in the United Arab Emirates for espionage was granted a presidential pardon on Monday.
Matthew Hedges, 31, a doctoral student at Durham University, was convicted of espionage on November 21, but said he was in the United Arab Emirates looking for a Ph.D.
At a press conference on Monday, officials from the United Arab Emirates watched short excerpts from what they described as a Hedges confession, in which he claimed to be a "captain" of MI6, the news agency. British intelligence.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt welcomed the news but said Britain did not agree with the accusations.
"Fantastic news about Matthew Hedges," Hunt said on Twitter. "Although we have not accepted the charges, we are grateful to the UAE government for solving the problem quickly."
Forgiveness has been granted with immediate effect. The hedges will be released once the formalities have been completed.
British academic Matthew Hedges, jailed for espionage in the UAE, appears on this undated selfie photo with his wife, Daniela Tejada, while he was on vacation in Thailand. (Document / Reuters)
The statement from the official UAE news agency indicates that the pardon was granted in response to a letter from the Hedges family to Emirati President Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, asking for clemency. He was one of the pardoned 785 on Monday, the country's national holiday.
Hedges' wife Daniela Tejada described forgiveness as "the best news we could ever receive" and thanked the public and her friends for their support.
"I was brought back to life," she said. tweeted.
Hedges was arrested on May 5 at Dubai Airport as he was leaving the country after a two-week trip that his university and his family had announced as part of his doctoral dissertation on safety and security. the foreign policy of the Emirates.
After several months of detention, much of it in solitary confinement, the authorities accused Hedges in October of spying.
A judge handed down a life sentence at a five-minute hearing Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.
Hunt, the British Foreign Secretary, said at the time that it was not an expected verdict of a close ally and warned that there would be repercussions on the relations .
After the pardon, UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said it was time for the two countries to move on.
"The graceful grace of customary national holiday forgiveness allows us to close this chapter and to focus on the many positive aspects of the relationship," he said, according to the news agency. State.
The conviction was based on evidence from the suspect's electronic devices, evidence collected by the security services and provided by Hedges himself, the official news agency added.
The projection of parts of Hedges' testimony to reporters before the announcement of his pardon seemed to be intended to justify the conviction.
Paul Schemm contributed to this story.
Read more:
British academic sentenced to life in UAE for espionage charges
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