Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan with Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt CREDIT: REUTERS The British government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Arab Emirates intended to help the UAE’s media effectiveness in the UK and at home to emphasise the UAE government’s good side, even while British national Matthew Hedges was being held in solitary confinement in an Emirates’ state security prison for researching his PhD thesis in the country

The ongoing dispute between Gulf neighbours Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia (with a variety of other countries allied to one side or the other), has become increasingly disruptive and dangerous; even victimising disinterested foreign visitors to the Gulf as the rivals ramp up pressure tactics against each other. Just last month a British national was attacked and subsequently jailed in the UAE for wearing a team jersey for the Qatar national football team while attending a ma

Statement of Radha Stirling, Middle Eastern Criminal and Civil Justice Expert, Expert Witness and founder of UK based Detained in Dubai issued the following statement in relation to hunger strike of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe "The Iranian government has accused Mrs Ratcliffe of seeking to promote negative propaganda against the state by running a training course for aspiring journalists; but their wrongful detention of Nazanin the government has done far more damage to their o

Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai, who have been actively pushing for the release of British academic Matthew Hedges, commented today on the pardon just issued by the UAE government: “We are happy that Matthew Hedges has been released, but let us be clear, the UAE is trying to get themselves off the hook by issuing this pardon; they are asking for clemency, not granting it. “Matthew should never have been arrested; never should have been forced to sign a false confessi

Statement from Radha Stirling (CEO of Detained in Dubai): "The announcement that Matthew Hedges has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Abu Dhabi has sent shockwaves through the British and international community as well as the academic community who I have advised to suspend research trips to the Emirates. UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the press he was 'deeply shocked and disappointed', adding that Wednesday's sentencing was 'not what London expected from an all

It has been a bad year for the UAE. First, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, records a video detailing horrific abuse she and her sister suffered at his hands; then she tries to escape the country. The UAE and India illegally raid the American-registered yacht that was ferrying her to safety, and kidnap all those onboard; all in the name of enforcing Islamic Law in international waters. The UAE is facing a United Nations enquiry into t

British citizen, and PhD student Matthew Hedges, 31, was arrested last May at Dubai airport as he sought to return to the UK after a research trip for his doctoral thesis at Durham University. He was transferred to an undisclosed detention facility in Abu Dhabi, accused of “spying for a foreign agency”. Matthew has been held mostly incommunicado ever since, and is facing allegations of violating the UAE’s national security. “Matthew is a respected academic and researcher,” sa