Arrest of Matthew Hedges

The verdict was criticised in the United Kingdom, including by Prime Minister Theresa May and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hunt.

In 2015, he began a PhD programme at Durham University's School of Government and International Affairs examining the effects of the Arab Spring on the Gulf states.

At the end of his two-week visit, Hedges was arrested at Dubai International Airport on suspicion of spying on behalf of the British government.

[10] In October 2018, a local report said that a foreign national, believed to be Hedges, had been accused of "seeking confidential information about the UAE", and said that the suspect had confessed to the charges.

[11][12] In November 2018, Abu Dhabi court sentenced Hedges to life imprisonment in the UAE on charges of spying and providing confidential information to outside sources.

[14] British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hunt criticized the verdict, claiming that it had been done in a five-minute hearing, an allegation denied by Sulaiman Hamid al-Mazroui.

[18] Staff at Exeter University, where Hedges was previously an undergraduate, passed a motion calling for the suspension of its academic relationships with the UAE.

[24] In August 2023, the British Parliamentary Ombudsman recommended that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office apologise to Hedges for failing to protect him after his arrest and to pay him £1,500 in compensation.

[26] He lodged a claim for compensation against four senior security officials for assault, false imprisonment and the intentional infliction of psychiatric injury during his detention.