In a statement on Friday, the UAE ambassador to the UK, Sulaiman Hamid Almazroui, said Hedges' family had filed a request for clemency with the Emerati authorities.
Hedges, 31, was sentenced on Thursday after a five-minute hearing, in a development that appeared to take British authorities by surprise.
A specialist in Middle Eastern studies at Durham University in England, Hedges was arrested by UAE officials at Dubai International Airport in May.
He was held in solitary confinement for almost six months before being released on bail last month. Hedges and his wife have repeatedly denied the allegations of spying, but prosecutors insist the British academic confessed.
On Thursday, Hedges' wife, Daniela Tejada, told CNN's "Hala Gorani Tonight" program Thursday that "the UAE should have the sensibility and the humanity to recognize that it has been a misunderstanding and that Matt has paid for someone's lack of judgment."
More to follow....
No comments:
Post a Comment