United Arab Emirates pardons and will free a British academic sentenced to life in prison for spying.
The United Arab Emirates on Monday pardoned a British academic sentenced to life in prison for spying in the Gulf Arab country, showing videos of him purportedly acknowledging the he worked for MI-6, the British intelligence.
The announcement on Matthew Hedges’ upcoming release ends a diplomatic headache for the UAE, a staunch American and British ally in the Mideast.
However, Emirati officials made a point to insist their arrest came on solid ground, showing a closed-door meeting of journalists hastily convened in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, short video clips of Hedges allegedly acknowledging his intelligence work.
“He was a part-time PhD researcher, a part-time businessman, but he was a 100-percent a full-time secret service operative,” said Jaber al-Lamki, an official with the UAE’s National Media Council.
“Mr. Hedges has been found guilty of espionage. He sought out sensitive information he knew had access to it. He was here to steal the UAE’s sensitive national security secrets for his paymasters,” al-Lamki added.
