Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent

Britain has a very deep and quite longstanding defence relationship with the UAE - they are an ally.

There are roughly 200 serving British personnel permanently based in the UAE. There is an airbase called Al Minhad just south of Dubai where RAF typhoons and tornadoes are rotating in and out, including for flights to Afghanistan. There is a port called Port Zayed which is the most visited Royal Navy port in the world. And hundreds of Emirati officers are trained at Sandhurst.

Britain has got a very close defence, security and counter-terrorism relationship with the UAE and though there is no suggestion of that being threatened, if the situation escalates the calls to reconsider that relationship will increase.

The suggestion we would send a spy makes no sense. I'm sure MI6 would use academics to spy on a place if they could but only in hard to target countries. I cannot imagine what on Earth an academic could get out of the UAE that the UK couldn't just get by asking the UAE directly.

There is nothing that I can see that Matthew Hedges has done which in anyway would constitute spying. There are far greater sensitivities there than in this country - somebody has dobbed him in to the authorities saying he is asking suspicious questions. I've known someone, who was a businessman in Dubai - a former British army officer - who was arrested because he upset the wrong person and didn't have the connections that would get him out of jail.

Victoria Derbyshire

MP Ben Bradshaw continued: "The strong language used by the Foreign Secretary needs to be followed up by action because the softly, softly approach has just not worked - the approach that governments always take in this country to problems like this, when we have them in the gulf states.

"This is a completely unacceptable and intolerable position for an innocent British citizen to be placed in."

The United Arab Emirates has "nothing to gain" from locking up a Durham academic accused of spying, MP Ben Bradshaw has said.

The Exeter Labour MP told Victoria Derbyshire: "This is what is really weird about it, I don’t see how anyone has got anything to gain from this, it could be about them trying to send a message to UK academics and academics worldwide not to look into stuff they consider politically sensitive.

“But I think the real worry for this is it has done the UAE such damage, the fact they kept him in solitary confinement for five months, he had no access to a lawyer, no access to reading material or anything, he has mental health problems, he wasn’t getting proper medical treatment, and I’m very, very worried for his safety.

“We don’t know where he is, we haven’t been able to get consular access on the ground since his sentencing, and the government needs to make it quite clear to the UAE that if any harm comes to Matthew, the government there will be held absolutely responsible.”

Speaking to the Victoria Derbyshire programme, Giorgio Cafiero CEO of Gulf State Analytics, a Washington, DC-based geopolitical risk consultancy, said: “It’s incredibly disappointing and shocking.

"The decision by the court in the UAE was outrageous, but we remain optimistic about an appeal, l and hope he can be sent back to the UK and return to his life of freedom.

“This whole incident has been a grave injustice, Matthew Hedges is an innocent man, and we’re trying to remain optimistic about what comes next, even though it’s certainly a difficult situation.”

Paul Adams
BBC diplomatic correspondent

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt met the UAE ambassador to London at 09:00 this morning to discuss the case of jailed Briton Matthew Hedges.

This is not being described as a formal summons by the FCO.

This morning's meeting between Mr Hunt and the ambassador is being described as "a very frank conversation".

The UK government has warned the United Arab Emirates of "serious diplomatic consequences", after the British academic, Matthew Hedges, was jailed for life there for spying.

Speaking to the BBC, Hedges' friend and fellow Middle East researcher Shana Marshall condemned the verdict.

Daniela Tejada speaks to the BBC about the jailing of her husband Matthew Hedges in the UAE for spying.

Giorgio Cafiero, a friend and colleague of jailed Durham student Matthew Hedges, said it is "fair to acknowledge" the UAE "do face grave security threats".

He said: "There is a lot of concern about the problems throughout the Middle East undermining security and they are very sensitive about what some foreigners may be doing in their country.

"But if they genuinely believe Matt Hedges is any sort threat to the country, they are 100% wrong about Matt."

MPs from across the country have continued to hit out at the UAE after a Durham academic was jailed for life for spying.

The wife of a Durham PHD student who has been jailed for life in the United Arab Emirates for spying has said she felt disregarded by the Foreign Office during the legal process.

Daniela Tejada said officials had not been proactive in trying to help Matthew Hedges, who was first detained in May.

The Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said he will do all he can to ensure he can return home.

Ms Tejada believes the Government should have put more pressure on the UAE:

The wife of a Durham academic jailed in the UAE for spying has accused the Government of putting relations with the region above her husband's right to freedom.

Matthew Hedges was sentenced to life in prison yesterday after being held at Dubai airport on 5 May.

"I was under the impression they were putting their interests with the UAE above a British citizen's rightful freedom and his welfare," Daniela Tejada told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"They were stepping on eggshells instead of taking a firm stance."

Image source, Daniela Tejada

She said the Foreign Office should have acted more strongly from the start, not after Mr Hedges had spent up to six months in solitary confinement.

"I believe that they should have taken a firmer stance from the beginning, if not publicly then through their private representations. This is something I feel they failed to do throughout really," she said.

"They just disregarded my requests, they said it wasn't part of their job, it wasn't part of their duty. On one occasion one of the case workers said the Foreign Office did not have a duty of care so weren't obliged to make such representations."

Professor Clive Jones of Durham University said Matthew Hedges had been working on a thesis about civil-military relations in the UAE since the Arab Spring.

"There was nothing clandestine or covert in any of the material he had been using up to date in the thesis," Prof Jones told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"He went to the United Arab Emirates to conduct a series of interviews to help flesh out some of the theories and some of the empirical evidence that he had actually collected."

Image source, Durham University

He added: "If we had any inkling that Matt in any sense shape or form was going to be in danger, then of course we would not have agreed to let him go.

"Matt was no stranger to the United Arab Emirates. He had lived there on and off since the age of nine.

"He knew many of the people he was going out to interview so again it is utterly bizarre and indeed perverse and indeed a miscarriage of justice that this has befallen him."

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Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said there is "no evidence" in the case of a Durham student jailed for life for spying in the UAE.

Matthew Hedges, 31, has always said he is innocent, and that he had been researching the country's security strategy.

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today Programme, Mr Hancock said: “This is clearly a terrible case and my heart goes out to Daniela and Matthew Hedges.

“We think we have seen no evidence to back up these charges and clearly there are going to have to be serious diplomatic repercussions.

“The question of why a friend of the UK should act like this is a perfectly reasonable one.

"The Foreign Secretary has already raised this case personally with the crown prince on the 12th of November, so before the hearing, so the Foreign Office has been acting on his behalf at the highest possible levels.”

Image source, Daniela Tejada

Gillingham come from 2-0 down to beat National League Hartlepool 4-3 in extra time and avoid an FA Cup giant-killing.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage.

We've got all the news, sport, travel and weather through the day, including updates on the case of Durham University student Matthew Hedges who was jailed yesterday for spying in the United Arab Emirates.

If you want to get in touch with any news or send us photos you can tweet us, external, contact us via our Facebook page, external or email us.

Image source, Daniela Tejada

Watch highlights as Gillingham avoid an embarrassing FA Cup giant-killing by coming back from 2-0 down to beat National League side Hartlepool 4-3 after extra time.

Midfielder Paddy McLaughlin reacts quickest to score National League Hartlepool United's second goal and stun their League One opposition Gillingham in the FA Cup first-round replay.

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