# UAE court sentenced British researcher Matthew Hedges to life for spying

Date: 2018

On 21 November 2018, the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals found British doctoral researcher Matthew Hedges guilty of spying for a foreign state and sentenced him to life imprisonment, nine days after the UK foreign secretary had raised his case with Crown Prince [Mohamed bin Zayed](/people/mohamed-bin-zayed-al-nahyan). Security forces had detained Hedges at Dubai International Airport on 5 May 2018 as he left after a two-week research trip. His wife told Human Rights Watch that he was held incommunicado for two weeks and then in solitary confinement in an undisclosed location, and that he was not allowed a lawyer until 10 October, more than five months after his arrest. [Jeremy Hunt](/people/jeremy-hunt) said he had personally raised the case with Mohamed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi on 12 November and that the verdict ran “contrary to earlier assurances.” The UAE said the case rested on evidence from Hedges’s electronic devices, surveillance by UAE intelligence and security agencies, and his own account, and on 26 November announced that President Khalifa bin Zayed had pardoned him as part of the customary National Day clemency. Back in Britain, Hedges told the BBC he had been “psychologically tortured,” handcuffed, blindfolded and made to stand all day in ankle cuffs, and that he confessed to being an MI6 officer only to stop the pressure. The UAE government maintained that he was “100% a spy,” and the U.S. State Department reported that the UAE denied the mistreatment allegations and said he was treated in accordance with the law. No cited source shows that Mohamed bin Zayed personally ordered the arrest, the detention conditions or the sentence.

## People

- Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan: https://factrail.ai/people/mohamed-bin-zayed-al-nahyan

## Drivers

- State Repression: https://factrail.ai/drivers/state-repression
- Rule of Law: https://factrail.ai/drivers/rule-of-law

## Sources

- https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/10/21/uae-jailed-british-academic-denied-rights
- https://2017-2021.state.gov/reports/2018-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/united-arab-emirates/
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secretary-jeremy-hunt-statement-on-the-matthew-hedges-case-in-uae
- https://www.wam.ae/en/article/hszr7rjt-breaking-news-uae-statement-regarding-the-status
- https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-46451590

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ae-matthew-hedges-life-sentence-2018