The United Arab Emirates on Monday pardoned and released a British academic jailed for life on spying charges, granting a request for clemency after showing a video of him purportedly confessing to membership of the UK\u2019s MI6 intelligence service. The case has strained ties between the long-time allies, leading London to issue a forceful diplomatic response after last week\u2019s verdict was handed down, with a warning that it could hurt relations.<\/p>\n
The UAE president issued the pardon as part of a mass clemency of more than 700 prisoners to mark the country\u2019s National Day, according to a statement on state news agency WAM. The pardon was effective immediately and Matthew Hedges, a 31-year-old doctoral student at Durham University held for more than six months, will be allowed to leave the country \u201conce formalities are completed,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
A UAE official later said Hedges had been freed. Britain\u2019s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt welcomed the move, which he called \u201cfantastic news\u201d. \u201cAlthough we didn\u2019t agree with charges we are grateful to UAE government for resolving issue speedily.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunt said it was also a \u201cbittersweet moment\u201d because he was thinking about innocent people still detained in Iran, the arch-foe of Abu Dhabi. \u201cJustice won\u2019t be truly done until they too are safely home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The UAE had signalled on Friday that it was working on an \u201camicable solution\u201d to the case after Prime Minister Theresa May had described last week\u2019s sentence as deeply disappointing.<\/p>\n
The UAE\u2019s ambassador to the UK has disputed the account, saying the case was \u201cextremely serious\u201d and there had not been a \u201cfive minute show trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minutes before the pardon was announced, a UAE government spokesman showed journalists a video of Hedges purporting to confess to belonging to Britain\u2019s Secret Intelligence Service and researching which military systems the UAE was buying.<\/p>\n
In the video, which was sometimes inaudible and shown with subtitles that could not be independently verified, Hedges appeared to say he approached sources as a doctoral student.<\/p>\n
The spokesman, Jaber al-Lamki, said Hedges was \u201c100 percent a secret service operative\u201d and aimed \u201cto steal the UAE\u2019s sensitive national secrets for his paymasters\u201d, but did not take questions on the case.<\/p>\n
He said Hedges aimed to gather information on government figures including \u201cmembers of the UAE\u2019s ruling families and their networks\u201d and economic data related to strategic firms.<\/p>\n
Hedges had built an extensive network of contacts while working with Dubai\u2019s Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis , then returned to the UAE \u201con assignment as an undercover student on research trip\u201d, Lamki said.<\/p>\n
Hedges\u2019 family and colleagues have cast him as a talented researcher who fell foul of the UAE security and justice system. His dissertation research focused on security structures, tribalism and the consolidation of political power in Abu Dhabi, which are considered sensitive topics in the UAE, they said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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