Matthew Hedges: 'Innocent' UK student accused of spying in UAE being 'unjustly held', wife says

The wife of a British PhD student accused of spying in the United Arab Emirates insists he is "innocent" and is being "unjustly held".

Matthew Hedges, a 31-year-old Durham University PhD student, was detained as he was leaving Dubai Airport on 5 May and his supporters say he has been kept in "inhumane" solitary confinement ever since.

His physical and mental health have deteriorated and he has expressed suicidal thoughts to his wife.

Authorities in the UAE have charged him with spying "for a foreign state", claiming his study was a "cover" for doing survillance for the UK government.

Mr Hedges' supporters insist he was in the country with permission to conduct research and interviews for his thesis about security policies after the Arab Spring.

Mr Hedges' wife, Daniela Tejada, told Sky News she had been unable to find anything that could justify prosecuting her husband.

"I know his research from top to bottom," she said.

"I pretty much have read every single one of his emails and I cannot find any compromising information."

Ms Tejada said her husband had "lived in the UAE" and had "visited on and off".

"He really knew it like the back of his hand," she said.

Ms Tejada, who described Mr Hedges as an "innocent man being unjustly held", said she heard he had been charged "through the news" which was "completely devastating".

While the British authorities have been "heavily involved", their effectiveness has been "rather debatable", she said, although the foreign secretary has made a "couple of representations".

Concerning her husband's welfare, Ms Tejada added: "Some weeks he feels a bit calmer; some others he's very distressed.

"He suffers from depression and anxiety and naturally the conditions that he's been kept in have had a horrible toll on his state of being."

A letter signed by 123 academics has called for Hedges' release from prison.

The document says he is locked up at an "undisclosed location in Abu Dhabi" and kept in "degrading and inhumane" conditions that violate international norms.

The letter adds: "He was forced to sleep on the floor for the first four and a half months after his arrest, denied access to regular showers and prevented from receiving any reading material that might help allay his mental anguish."

Mr Hedges was only given a lawyer last week, has limited access to British consular officials and has had only brief communications with his wife, according to the letter.

The letter from academics warns that future educational ties with the UAE are at risk and that it cannot now be seen as "a safe place for legitimate academic research".

Academics from the UK, Spain, Canada, France, Portugal and the US are among those calling for his immediate release.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said his case has been raised with the UAE and that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt had also raised the case with his Emirati counterparts.

UAE's attorney general previously said the charge was "predicated on evidence secured from Mr Hedges' electronic devices; surveillance and intelligence gathering by UAE intelligence and security agencies; and corroborating evidence provided by Mr Hedges himself".

"His colleagues and friends just could not believe what was going on. They are all specialists in the area."

Mr Hedges' trial is expected to resume on Wednesday.