Well- their partners in slaughter and ethnic cleansing, the degenerate Sauds, can get away with strangling and dismembering a Washington Post journalist- almost on national TV. What's a life imprisonment .
U.A.E. Charges British Student With Spying for Foreign State
By Abbas Al Lawati
October 16, 2018, 5:20 AM EDT
Updated on October 16, 2018, 10:30 AM EDT
Hedges’s wife says he was studying impact of Arab Spring
Evidence shows research was ‘cover,’ attorney general says
The United Arab Emirates charged a British student with espionage and jeopardizing the Gulf state’s military, security and economy.
University of Durham doctoral student Matthew Hedges was accused using evidence obtained from his electronic devices as well as information gleaned from surveillance and intelligence, the U.A.E.’s attorney general, Hamad Al Shamsi, said in a statement late Monday. Academic research was a “cover” for his spying activities, and Hedges corroborated the evidence, he said.
The academic’s wife, Daniela Tejada, denied the allegations, saying in a statement that Hedges was studying the impact of the Arab Spring uprisings on the U.A.E.’s foreign policy and security strategy. The U.A.E. didn’t name the country the Briton was accused of spying for, but Tejada said it was the U.K.
The disclosure marks a rare case of going public with an espionage case between the U.K. and the U.A.E., which maintain cordial ties. The seven-state federation, which includes Abu Dhabi and Dubai, has taken a hard line on political Islam and domestic activism since 2011, when revolutions swept through the Middle East and North Africa and threatened the established order across the Arab world. The U.A.E. declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and cracked down on suspected sympathizers at home, jailing dozens.
Read More: Muslim Brotherhood Is at the Heart of Gulf Standoff With Qatar
“The charges against Matt are false and unsubstantiated, as is the purported evidence to support them,” Tejada said. Hedges spent almost six months in solitary confinement before being charged, she said.
A spokesperson for the U.K.’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said its staff are providing support and keeping in close contact with the U.A.E. authorities. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote on Twitter that he raised the issue twice with his Emirati counterpart, stressing “the need for regular consular access, fair & humane treatment as well as due process.”
Jeremy Hunt
✔
@Jeremy_Hunt
Extremely concerned about case of Matthew Hedges in UAE. Have raised twice with Foreign Minister and stressed the need for regular consular access, fair & humane treatment as well as due process which is essential.
Briton Sentenced to Life in Prison in U.A.E. for Spying
By Abbas Al Lawati and Zainab Fattah
November 21, 2018, 6:16 AM EST
Updated on November 21, 2018, 12:09 PM EST
University of Durham student was charged with spying for U.K.
Hedges was arrested in Dubai on May 5 after 2 weeks in U.A.E.
A British academic has been sentenced to life in prison in the United Arab Emirates on charges of spying for the U.K., according to his family, a verdict swiftly denounced by the government in London which raised the possibility of “diplomatic consequences.”
Daniela Tejada
@dtejadav
Tomorrow, Nov 21, Matt will be appearing in court in Abu Dhabi. Hoping that justice will prevail and my husband will be granted his rightful freedom. #MatthewHedges
University of Durham doctoral student Matthew Hedges had been charged with espionage and jeopardizing the state’s military, security and economy, according to earlier statements by U.A.E. authorities. Hedges was arrested at Dubai’s airport on May 5 after spending two weeks in the U.A.E. studying the impact of the Arab Spring uprisings on the country’s foreign policy and security strategy, his wife Daniela Tejada has said.
In a statement, the office of the U.A.E.’s attorney general said Hedges could appeal to the supreme court for a retrial, according to the state-run WAM news agency, without specifying the crimes it said he had confessed to. The prosecutor said U.K. embassy officials were present during the trial.
Hedges’s family, however, described what they said were flawed proceedings. The academic was sentenced without the presence of his lawyer in a hearing that lasted five minutes, it said, after being forced to sign a confession document in Arabic, a language he doesn’t read. He was previously held in solitary confinement for five months.
The court ruling in Abu Dhabi drew forceful condemnation from the U.K., with Prime Minister Theresa May expressing her deep concern and disappointment and vowing to take the case to the highest levels.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the ruling “runs contrary to earlier assurances.” Hunt visited Abu Dhabi on Nov. 12 after the charges against Hedges were revealed.
“Today’s verdict is not what we expect from a friend and trusted partner of the United Kingdom,” he said in an emailed statement. In a later tweet, Hunt said: “UAE claim to be friend & ally of the UK so there will be serious diplomatic consequences. Unacceptable.”
Daniela Tejada
@dtejadav
Tomorrow, Nov 21, Matt will be appearing in court in Abu Dhabi. Hoping that justice will prevail and my husband will be granted his rightful freedom. #MatthewHedges
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7:22 AM - Nov 20, 2018
Hedges’s wife, who was present in court, called on the U.K. government to take a stand in support of her husband.
“They say that the U.A.E. is an ally, but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matt’s case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price,” she said in the statement. Hunt said he would meet Tejada on Thursday.
The disclosures mark a rare case of going public with an espionage case between the U.K. and the U.A.E., which maintain cordial ties. The seven-state U.A.E. federation, which includes Abu Dhabi and Dubai, has taken a hard line on political Islam and domestic activism since 2011, when revolutions swept through the Middle East and North Africa and threatened the established order across the Arab world.
— With assistance by Samer Al-Atrush, and Dana Khraiche
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...tish-researcher-with-spying-for-foreign-state
