Matthew Hedges: British academic convicted of spying is pardoned - but UAE insists he's still a spy

The British academic sentenced to life in jail in the United Arab Emirates after being convicted of spying for the UK government has been pardoned.

Matthew Hedges, a 31-year-old doctoral student at Durham University, was convicted last Wednesday in a move described as deeply disappointing by Theresa May.

On Monday morning, a UAE official said the country stands by the charges against Mr Hedges, but that the academic was being pardoned, alongside 784 other prisoners, as part of the UAE’s 47th National Day.

The spokesman said Mr Hedges was “100% a full-time secret service operative” who was in the country “to steal the UAE’s sensitive security national secrets for his paymasters”.

He said the Briton’s pardon was in response to a letter from his family appealing for clemency and due to the historical close ties between the UK and UAE.

“His Highness has decided to include Mr Matthew Hedges among the 785 prisoners released,” he said.

“Mr Hedges will be permitted to leave the country once all the formalities are complete.”

The Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, described it as “fantastic news”.

Mr Hedges had been held in the UAE since May 5, when he was arrested at Dubai International Airport after a two-week research visit. The evidence presented against him consisted of notes from his dissertation research, Hedges’ family has maintained.

The official Emirates News Agency quoted UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash saying: “The case against Mr Hedges was predicated on evidence secured from Mr Hedges’ electronic devices; surveillance and intelligence gathering by UAE intelligence and security agencies; and evidence provided by Mr Hedges himself – including a corroborated account of asset recruitment and training and the confidential information being targeted.

“His recruitment and progress within a foreign intelligence service was authenticated to the court by UAE intelligence agencies.

“The gracious Presidential customary National Day pardon allows us to close this chapter and to concentrate on the many positive aspects of the relationship.”

The Hedges family say he was made to sign a confession statement in Arabic that he did not understand and experienced deterioration in both his physical and mental health during his detention.

Mr Hedges’s wife, Daniela Tejada, said she and the rest of his family were “elated” at the news he was to be freed.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s taken me by surprise and I’m just so happy and so relieved and really incredulous that it is all happening finally.

“It’s been an absolutely nightmarish seven months already and I can’t wait to have him back.”

Ms Tejada rejected the UAE’s claim that her husband was an MI6 agent, telling Today: “In my heart I know that he isn’t.”

Asked about the fact that he was being pardoned rather than the spying charges being quashed, she said: “If that is what it takes for him to be back I just welcome the news.”