I still find the British Government's approach to this really poor, in a way that can only really indicate that there is an element of this narrative they would rather not have to deal with.
Hunt says he piled in and read the UAE administration the riot act. I don't think so. He seems to have said "please" a lot and got frustrated.
Mr Hedges has been pardoned as part of a series of orders on the country's National Day anniversary. However, a spokesman for the UAE government said Mr Hedges was "100% a secret service operative" as they announced his release. He hasn't been acquitted or released following an appeal and the quashing of a conviction. According to his partner, Ms Tejada it "has been an absolutely nightmarish seven months already".
Seven months this has been going on. So what has happened procedurally and evidentially here?
According to the BBC, "Prosecutors said Mr Hedges admitted the charges in an Abu Dhabi court, which found him guilty of "spying for or on behalf of" the UK government, and he was jailed for life last week. Mr Hedges had always said he was innocent, and had been researching the country's security strategy as part of his PhD studies at Durham University."
During the news conference announcing the pardon, a video was shown of Mr Hedges giving a confession, saying he was a member of MI6. Jeremy Hunt said in response that the UK government had "never seen any evidence" the spying charges were true.
Then Hunt tweets: "Fantastic news about Matthew Hedges. "Although we didn't agree with charges we are grateful to UAE government for resolving issue speedily."
Hmm.
Nowhere is there a government statement saying the allegation is incorrect and that he wasn't a spy. They are just taking issue with the fact that the UK Government hasn't been privy to a rerun of the facts and doing the usual evasive thing of saying "you say that but" and then chipping away at credibility. No UK Government endorsement of Mr Hedges' defence case facts. No court has found contrary to the court which did convict him. MI6 are keeping consistently out of it, and Hunt cannot take a position on the facts.
He is lucky that he got a pardon through diplomatic pressure. I wonder what we gave away?
MI6 are not stupid enough to use, as a cover story, a piece of academic research so guaranteed to enrage the Saudis that the author was bound to be locked up.
Mal, well you say that buy by way of comparison, the mighty GRU used the we wanted to see the most impressive spire in Europe excuse for the Salisbury spy assassins.
The connection between the Saudis and the UAE here is quite interesting. They and the UK are aligned on strategy in the Yemen. They are also aligned on the approach to the rise of IS in Iraq and the Levant and adopt a position in conflict with Russia on this. It is not an easy coalition.
In this context an academic whose choice of research topic is "the effect of the Arab Spring on UAE foreign and security policy" (my emphasis) is asking for trouble if it isn't in fact a cover to procure information. Whether on purpose (because he is an intelligence field operative) or by mistake (because he's digging in unwelcome areas) he is gathering a lot of information of sensitivity to the UAE and Saudi in connection with these issues. It's either bad or mad. I can bet you he will be debriefed by the SIS so even if he wasn't one he's now of interest.
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I still find the British Government's approach to this really poor, in a way that can only really indicate that there is an element of this narrative they would rather not have to deal with.
Hunt says he piled in and read the UAE administration the riot act. I don't think so. He seems to have said "please" a lot and got frustrated.
Mr Hedges has been pardoned as part of a series of orders on the country's National Day anniversary. However, a spokesman for the UAE government said Mr Hedges was "100% a secret service operative" as they announced his release. He hasn't been acquitted or released following an appeal and the quashing of a conviction. According to his partner, Ms Tejada it "has been an absolutely nightmarish seven months already".
Seven months this has been going on. So what has happened procedurally and evidentially here?
According to the BBC, "Prosecutors said Mr Hedges admitted the charges in an Abu Dhabi court, which found him guilty of "spying for or on behalf of" the UK government, and he was jailed for life last week. Mr Hedges had always said he was innocent, and had been researching the country's security strategy as part of his PhD studies at Durham University."
During the news conference announcing the pardon, a video was shown of Mr Hedges giving a confession, saying he was a member of MI6. Jeremy Hunt said in response that the UK government had "never seen any evidence" the spying charges were true.
Then Hunt tweets: "Fantastic news about Matthew Hedges. "Although we didn't agree with charges we are grateful to UAE government for resolving issue speedily."
Hmm.
Nowhere is there a government statement saying the allegation is incorrect and that he wasn't a spy. They are just taking issue with the fact that the UK Government hasn't been privy to a rerun of the facts and doing the usual evasive thing of saying "you say that but" and then chipping away at credibility. No UK Government endorsement of Mr Hedges' defence case facts. No court has found contrary to the court which did convict him. MI6 are keeping consistently out of it, and Hunt cannot take a position on the facts.
He is lucky that he got a pardon through diplomatic pressure. I wonder what we gave away?
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Clearly not a spy. The UK govt and plenty of hostile furrin ones get their spies from Cambridge as any fule knows.
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He fairly clearly wasn’t a spy.
MI6 are not stupid enough to use, as a cover story, a piece of academic research so guaranteed to enrage the Saudis that the author was bound to be locked up.
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Mal, well you say that buy by way of comparison, the mighty GRU used the we wanted to see the most impressive spire in Europe excuse for the Salisbury spy assassins.
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Yes, but they were just trolling us.
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The connection between the Saudis and the UAE here is quite interesting. They and the UK are aligned on strategy in the Yemen. They are also aligned on the approach to the rise of IS in Iraq and the Levant and adopt a position in conflict with Russia on this. It is not an easy coalition.
In this context an academic whose choice of research topic is "the effect of the Arab Spring on UAE foreign and security policy" (my emphasis) is asking for trouble if it isn't in fact a cover to procure information. Whether on purpose (because he is an intelligence field operative) or by mistake (because he's digging in unwelcome areas) he is gathering a lot of information of sensitivity to the UAE and Saudi in connection with these issues. It's either bad or mad. I can bet you he will be debriefed by the SIS so even if he wasn't one he's now of interest.
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