UAE holds British man in solitary confinement for five months on ‘spying’ charge

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. His rights are violated on a daily basis and I am shocked that more has not been done to get him out “Matt is a British citizen; he visited the UAE exclusively for academic research purposes and has been detained without charge for over five months in an undisclosed location. Ms Tejada said the UK should review its educational ties with the UAE in light of Mr Hedges’s detention, warning academic researchers like him “face great risks in the UAE”. “We have raised these concerns with the UK ambassador to the UAE, the minister of state for the Middle East and North Africa at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and local MPs, and we continue to offer our full assistance to efforts to bring Matt home safely and swiftly.” Radha Stirling, from Detained in Dubai, a rights group which monitors and lobbies for foreigners unfairly held in the UAE, warned that those accused of national security violations in the Emirates can be held without charge indefinitely. Detaining Matthew, and accusing him of a national security offence for conducting PhD research is an escalation of the UAE’s hostility towards the free flow of information,” she said.