Jeremy Hunt welcomes 'bittersweet' pardoning of British academic Matthew Hedges
3 min read
Jeremy Hunt has welcomed the “bittersweet” pardoning of British academic Matthew Hedges.
Mr Hedges, who was jailed for life last week in the United Arab Emirates on charges of spying, has been granted a presidential pardon by the country’s leadership.
The UAE claimed they had evidence that Mr Hedges was collecting information on their military capabilities for the British secret service, including a taped confession in which he admitted to being an MI6 captain.
But Mr Hedges, a PhD student at Durham University, will now be allowed to leave the country once the formal procedures for a pardon are completed.
The pardon follows weeks of diplomatic lobbying from Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt who said he was “grateful” to the UAE authorities for agreeing to release the British academic.
In a tweet, he said: “Fantastic news about Matthew Hedges. Although we didn’t agree with charges we are grateful to UAE government for resolving issue speedily.
"But also a bittersweet moment as we remember Nazanin & other innocent people detained in Iran. Justice won’t be truly done until they too are safely home.”
The Foreign Secretary added that the UK had never seen any evidence to support the charges of spying levied against Mr Hedges.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: “This is one of those situations that was incredibly difficult for everyone involved, but we never saw any evidence for these charges against Matthew Hedges, and we made that clear.
"I think that the UAE authorities, to their credit, have been willing to listen to us in the last few days. We have been making this point to them over the summer on a number of occasions.
"The main thing now is that they have made this very important gesture.”
The UAE said the pardon was granted as part of the country’s National Day anniversary celebrations.
A spokesperson for the UEA said: “A gracious clemency was granted on Sunday in response to a letter from the Hedges family bearing in mind the historic relationship between the UAE an the UK.”
But Mr Hunt said the news was a "bittersweet" reminder that other British citizens, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, remained imprisoned abroad.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to a five-year jail term in Iran after she was arrested in 2016 on suspicion of spying - a charge she vehemently denies.
Mr Hunt added: "So I think it is closure on this chapter, but as I said just now…it is a bittersweet moment because in Iran, another country in the region, we have Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe an innocent women who is still in prison for nearly three years now and indeed there are other British citizens, and other citizens from other countries also wrongly imprisoned in Iran as well.
"So the wonderful news about Matthew is also making us remember there are other people who are in a terrible state right now, and we must never forget them either."
Liberal Democract Foreign Affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine said the news was a "great relief."
She added: "However, this should never have happened in the first place and the Conservative Government must be absolutely clear that we will not tolerate the abuse either of human rights or of the rule of law.
"It is vital the UK Government continues its efforts to secure the release of all those unjustly detained abroad."
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