Jeremy Hunt 'optimistic' over fate of jailed Briton and commends wife Daniela Tejada for her bravery
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said he is "optimistic" about the fate of British academic, Matthew Hedges, jailed for life on a spying charge.
Commending Mr Hedges' wife for her bravery the Foreign Secretary promised he will hold further talks with his United Arab Emirates counterpart.
Diplomatic efforts to free the PhD student are being led by Mr Hunt amid an outcry after the 31-year-old was handed the sentence earlier this week.
The Durham University researcher’s wife, Daniela Tejada, has lobbied for his release and won assurances from Mr Hunt that the Government is “now standing up for” her husband, after she claimed it had initially put foreign relations above his liberty.,
Mr Hunt said Ms Tejada is being “incredibly brave in challenging circumstances”, and that he is “optimistic” a way through can be found.
“The UAE is a very long-standing friend of the UK, and I have had very good conversations with their foreign minister. I am going to speak to him again this afternoon,” Mr Hunt told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
“I am very much hoping we can find a way through that.”
Mr Hunt held talks with foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed on Friday and said he believed the Emirati authorities were “working constructively to find a solution to this problem.”
In a statement at the UAE embassy in London on the same day, ambassador Sulaiman Almazroui praised the closeness between the two nations as he said clemency is being considered for the “extremely serious case”.
“Mr Hedges’ family have made a request for clemency and the government is studying that request,” he said.
“Because of the strength of that relationship we are hopeful that an amicable solution can be reached.”
He also made efforts to defend the judicial process, denying it was a “five-minute show trial” and claiming three judges evaluated “compelling evidence” over three hearings to make their ruling.
He did not address whether the academic was given adequate legal representation throughout the process, which Ms Tejada has said he lacked.
She swiftly rebuked the ambassador’s defence, saying her husband had been held in solitary confinement for more than five months without charge or lawyer, and when he did receive consular access he was not able to “talk openly”.
“The judicial system in the UAE and the UK cannot be compared,” she said in a statement.
“We have asked for clemency, we will wait to see what happens.”
Mr Hedges, originally from Exeter, was arrested at Dubai Airport as he tried to leave the country on May 5.
Professor Stuart Corbridge, vice-chancellor of Durham University, said there is “no reason to believe that Matt was conducting anything other than legitimate academic research”.
Mr Hedges was given 30 days to challenge the court ruling, and Ms Tejada has launched a petition on Change.org which has so far garnered more than 238,000 signatures.