Arab Countries Are a Minefield for Scholars
Matthew Hedges wasn’t the first academic to stand accused of espionage, and he won’t be the last.
by Hassan Hassan
Dec 09, 2018
3 minutes
A British graduate student who was detained in the United Arab Emirates for alleged espionage spoke publicly about his ordeal for the first time this week. Matthew Hedges was arrested in May, detained, and sentenced to life in prison for “spying for a foreign country” and “jeopardizing the military, economic and political security of the UAE.” He was released on November 26 after he was granted a pardon. In his statements to media, Hedges said he confessed under duress after interrogators threatened to torture him at an overseas military base.
I lived and worked in
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