A Durham University student has “confessed” to UAE prosecutors that he was spying whilst in the country.
Matthew Hedges, (originally from Exeter), had been visiting the country conducting research on the UAE’s security strategy for his PhD thesis shortly before he was arrested at Dubai airport on 5 May. The 31-year-old denies spying but prosecutors said he had confessed. By all accounts, the trial lasted 5 minutes and Hedges lawyer wasn’t even present at the time.
His wife Ms Tejada is due to meet Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt at some point. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office had been “stepping on eggshells instead of taking a firm stance” and only began to take her husband’s case seriously after he was released on bail on the 29th of October after enduring months of solitary confinement and unsanitary conditions.
Ms Tejada claims she had contacted the foreign office every week since the incident in May, but kept having her claims dismissed.
“They just disregarded my requests, they said it wasn’t part of their job, it wasn’t part of their duty,” she continued.
“On one occasion one of the case workers said the Foreign Office did not have a duty of care so weren’t obliged to make such representations.”
She said: “I believe they should have taken a firmer stance from the beginning, if not publicly then through their private representations.
“This is something they failed to do throughout.”
“He was being detained in unacceptable conditions for something that he didn’t do.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock claims that “The Foreign Office has been acting on (Hedges’) behalf at the highest possible levels.”
