Durham University academic Matthew Hedges, who was 31 at the time, was detained in Abu Dhabi between May and November 2018 after being accused of working for MI6.
A British academic who was jailed on espionage charges by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched civil proceedings in a UK court against four senior Emirati officials, according to his lawyers.
The UAE had arrested Matthew Hedges in May 2018 and handed him a life sentence more than six months later after showing a video of him purportedly confessing to being a member of Britain’s spy agency and researching which military systems the Gulf state was buying.
After being granted a presidential pardon and returning to the United Kingdom in late November 2018, Hedges accused UAE investigators of subjecting him to psychological torture and forcing him to give a false confession. UAE officials at the time had denied the allegations and described the doctoral student at Durham University as a “part-time academic, part-time businessman and full-time spy”.
In UK, Jaishankar Tweets of Exposure to COVID-19 Positive Cases; Attends G7 Meet Virtually
UK media has reported that two Indian delegation members have been found to be COVID-19 positive.
External affairs minister S. Jaishankar attends the G7 meeting virtually. Photo: Twitter/@DrSJaishankar
Health05/May/2021
New Delhi: While external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, is self-isolating amidst reports of two Indian delegates testing positive for Covid-19 in London, there is no clarity on where the infection took place and whether it will lead to an extended overseas stay for Indiaâs external affairs minister.
On Tuesday afternoon, his tweet indicated that his engagements would only be virtual as he had been âmade aware yesterday evening of exposure to possible Covid positive casesâ.
BBC News
Published
image captionMatthew Hedges has always maintained he had been researching his PhD and is innocent
A British academic accused of spying in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched legal action against senior security officials claiming he was tortured while imprisoned.
Matthew Hedges was detained in Abu Dhabi for six months in 2018 after being accused of working for MI6.
The Durham University PhD student claims he was kept in cuffs, questioned for hours and fed a cocktail of drugs.
Mr Hedges said he was still waiting for the truth and justice .
He said: The UAE authorities have refused to answer the complaint that was submitted to them through the UK Foreign Office.