Matthew Hedges, the 31-year-old British academic jailed for life on spying charges by the United Arab Emirates, has been granted a presidential pardon by the country’s rulers.
The Durham University PhD student was still accused of being an MI6 spy but was named among 785 prisoners being freed ahead of the UAE’s National Day on December 2.
His elated wife Daniela Tejada, who has publicly fought for his release, was stunned by the news, saying she had “been brought back to life” and “cannot wait to have Matt back home”.
“The presidential pardon for Matt is the best news we could have received,” she said.
“I’m so happy, so relieved and really incredulous that it is all happening finally.”
She told of an “absolutely nightmarish seven months” after Mr Hedges, 31, was arrested at Dubai Airport as he tried to leave the country on May 5.
Mr Hedges was kept in solitary confinement for months and suffered panic attacks.
Just minutes before the pardon was announced, UAE government spokesman Jabel Al Lamki showed journalists a video of Mr Hedges which purportedly showed him confessing to being a “captain” in MI6 researching which military systems the UAE was buying.
He claimed Mr Hedges, originally from Exeter, had been gathering information from “targets” using two different identities.
“He was part-time PhD researcher, part-time businessman, but he was 100 per cent a full-time secret service operative,” alleged Mr Al Lamki.
“Mr Hedges has been found guilty of espionage. He sought out sensitive information…he was here to steal the UAE’s sensitive national security secrets for his paymasters.”
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt rejected the allegation, as did Ms Tejada who said that “in my heart I know that he isn’t” a spy.
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.”
Mr Hedges had been researching the UAE’s security strategy as part of his PhD studies and his family say he did not get a fair trial.
His life sentence was handed down in a five-minute hearing last Wednesday.
He is said to have signed what transpired to be a confession in Arabic which he could not understand.
Mr Hunt stressed: “We never saw any evidence for these charges against Matthew Hedges and we made that clear. The UAE authorities, to their credit, have been willing to listen to us in the last few days.
“Matthew Hedges is coming home.”
The presidential pardon was made on the orders of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
It allowed the UAE to defuse a diplomatic bust-up with the UK, a traditionally ally, while defending the court’s findings on Mr Hedges.
Responding to the act of clemency, Mr Hunt said he “respected” that the UAE had an independent, judicial system and thanked Emirati leaders for being “true to their word” in listening to Britain’s protestations that Mr Hedges was innocent.
He praised Ms Tejada, originally from Bogota in Colombia, who had been to “hell and back” during her campaign to get her husband released.
“I think it’s closure on this chapter,” the Foreign Secretary added.
“But in a way it’s a bittersweet moment because in Iran we have Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an innocent woman, who is still in prison nearly three years now and indeed there are other British citizens and other citizens from other countries also wrongly imprisoned in Iran as well.
“We must never forget them either.”
UAE foreign minister Dr Anwar Gargash said the pardon would allow the UAE and UK to “return our focus to the underlying fundamental strength of the UAE-UK bilateral relationship”.
He added: “It was always a UAE hope that this matter would be resolved through the common channels of our longstanding partnership. This was a straightforward matter that became unnecessarily complex despite the UAE’s best efforts.”
Professor Stuart Corbridge, vice-chancellor of Durham University, said: “We are absolutely delighted to learn the news of Matt’s impending release.
“It is paramount that he is now allowed to return home to Daniela and his family as quickly and safely as possible.
“We will continue to offer Matt’s family our full support in the aftermath of this traumatic ordeal and we will be thrilled to welcome him back to the Durham University community.”