Academic Matthew Hedges of the United Kingdom demands damages from Basque officials Middle East News

In 2018, the academic, who was imprisoned for espionage in the Basque Autonomous Community, initiated legal proceedings against four senior emirates who took part in his case.

He was a British academic imprisoned for espionage charges The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched civil proceedings in a UK court against four senior officials in the Emirates, according to its lawyers.

The BAC arrested Matthew Hedges in May 2018 and sentenced him to life imprisonment more than six months later after admitting to being a member of the British spy agency and showing a video investigating what military system the Gulf state was buying.

After that he pardoned the presidency and returng UK Hedges in late November 2018 reported by researchers in the Basque Country being subjected to psychological torture and forced to give false confession. At the time, officials in the BAC denied the allegations and said the doctoral student at Durham University was a “part-time academic, part-time employer and full-time spy”.

A statement from Carter-Ruck Solicitors said Wednesday that Hedges was seeking damages for four Emirati officials for assaults, fake prisons and for deliberately committing psychiatric injuries while allegedly detained in Abu Dhabi.

The accused identified Saqr Saif Al Naqbi as a councilor, who at the time was the head of the Abu Dhabi state security prosecutor’s office; Mohammed Khalfan Al Rumaithi was the commander-in-chief of the Abu Dhabi police; Ahmed Naser Ahmed Alrais Al Raisi, Inspector General of the Ministry of the Interior; and Ali Mohammed Hamad Hammad Al Shamsi, senior intelligence officer in the Basque Country.

“On May 5, 2018, I was arrested and tortured in the Basque Country. Three years later, I am still awaiting truth and justice,” Hedges said in the statement.

“The Basque authorities have refused to respond to the complaint lodged through the UK Foreign Office. It is clear that they have no interest in finding out who was responsible for my abuse. This complete lack of redress has prolonged my trauma and made it very difficult to move forward with my life.”

The Emirati authorities made no immediate comment.