British academic Matthew Hedges lands back in London after seven-month detention in UAE
Matthew Hedges, the British academic freed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) yesterday after being sentenced to 25 years in jail as a spy, landed back in London this morning.
The 31-year-old PhD student thanked the Foreign Office and the British embassy for securing his release, and thanked his wife, Daniela Tejada, who has spent six months trying to free him.
“I don’t know where to begin with thanking people for securing my release. I have not seen or read much of what has been written over the past few days but Dani tells me the support has been incredible. Thank you so much to the British Embassy and the FCO for their efforts in ensuring I arrived safely back home,” Hedges said.
“I could not have done this without Daniela, I hear her face is everywhere! She is so brave and strong, seeing her and my family after this ordeal is the best thing that could have happened. I thank you all once again, this is very surreal.”
Tejada has campaigned for his release since he was arrested at Dubai airport before he was due to board a flight home back in May.
She said: “I am so happy to have my Matt home! Thank you once again for the overwhelming support we have received, especially from the Embassy in the UAE and the Foreign Office in ensuring that Matt was safely returned home. We are overjoyed and exhausted!
“Thank you once again as well to the international community and the international media who were very supportive from the beginning. I hope you can all understand that Matt and I, as well as his family, really need some time to process everything that we have been through. No one should ever have to go through what he did and it will take him time to heal and recover. He is very overwhelmed.
To say we are happy is an understatement.”
Hedges was pardoned by the UAE yesterday following negotiations with foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt after being imprisoned as a British spy last week.
The UAE released a video appearing to show Hedges confessing to working for the MI6 – a claim the UK has denied.
Hedges was reportedly in a fragile mental state, and has said he was in the UAE as part of his PhD studies.
The UAE claimed he had collected sensitive economic data and military information, according to Sky News.