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THE UNITED ARAB Emirates (UAE) has pardoned a British researcher who was sentenced last week to life in prison for spying, an official statement said.
Matthew Hedges was among more than 700 prisoners pardoned by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on the occasion of National Day.
“Mr Hedges will be permitted to leave the UAE once formalities are completed,” the statement said.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt expressed his gratitude at the news.
“Fantastic news about Matthew Hedges. Although we didn’t agree with charges we are grateful to UAE govt for resolving issue speedily,” Hunt said on Twitter.
The UAE had shown footage at a news conference in which Hedges purportedly confessed to being an MI6 foreign intelligence agent.
A UAE official said that the presidential pardon came in response to a letter by Hedges’s family delivered by a British official.
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Hedges was sentenced to life in jail by a court in Abu Dhabi last week after he was convicted of spying for a foreign country.
The UAE official said that Hedges was “a 100-percent secret service agent and was convicted of espionage.”
He said Hedges confessed to gathering information about the UAE ruling family, military and its involvement in the Yemen war.
Hedges was arrested on 5 May at Dubai airport.
A lawyer had been appointed to defend Hedges who was also allowed to speak to his family repeatedly during his detention, the official said.
UAE state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash said the pardon allowed the two countries to refocus to developing their relations.
“It was always a UAE hope that this matter would be resolved through the common channels of our longstanding partnership. This was a straightforward matter that became unnecessarily complex despite the UAE’s best efforts,” he said in a statement.
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Reminds me of that Olay ad “is it DNA or Olay”. It’s DNA, it will always be DNA some people are just genetically gifted to look younger and prettier for longer and can get the same results with water as someone else would with all the expensive beauty products in the world….
Beauty consumers are more educated now than ever according to the Dublin-based aesthetician….
Please, they are amongst the most vacuous and shallow people on the planet.
As for an aesthetian, a fancy sounding made up word that Google spellchecker doesn’t recognise to give the impression of professionalism.
My friend text me the other day to say her 13 year old daughter was going to her first disco. The daughter had to get new outfit, new make-up, fake tan, eyebrows done and a new half bra (whatever that is). She ended the text with FFS!!!!!! I replied with the text, we used to go out with a jumper and jeans and we were happy out!!!!! If your beautiful inside, your beautiful outside.
@Diarmuid Hunt: Not at all, I go for 1 hour a week as a treatment for MS, also beneficial for cancer, sports injuries etc. due to its healing properties. Too expensive in South so I go to the North where an actual charity runs it. Long term users of HBO actually do have fabulous skin!
@Carla Brennan: But it doesn’t ‘heal cancer’. I’ve read studies of studies, and they all conclude that while it doesn’t do harm, only some people with breast cancer had a slight improvement in their health. Whether that was due to the hyperbaric sessions or not is debatable. It doesn’t even affect most types of cancer either way. I would like to hear what charity is paying a sports clinic to treat cancer patients, as that sort of wishful fundraising seems a bit of a con.
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