Matthew Hedges, who was accused of being a spy during a research trip in the UAE, has said he had suicidal thoughts after hearing cellmates going through physical torture.
The 31-year-old travelled to the UAE to research for his PhD, covering issues such as defence, security, international affairs and military policy in the Middle East.
But he was jailed in May for being a suspected spy, and was jailed for life in November only to be pardoned days later, fater months of “psychological torture.”
In an interview with Good Morning Britain, he and his wife Daniela Tejada told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid that he was never physically tortured, but overheard cell mates going through the horrendous ordeal as he struggled to cope with his confinement.
He said: “I actually heard people being tortured in the premises I was in. One time I went into a room and saw someone’s footprints on the wall, upside down, at about head-level, which could only have been there [because of torture.]
“They do torture people in UAE, there have been examples of this happening ofer the last 10 years… this is something that does happen routinely.
“They threatened to illegally rendition me to an overseas military base where they would torture me…”
After he went to court, he was not returned to prison but to a holding cell where he was interrogated again, and realised his due process was gone.
He continued: “Those next few days [after his court sentencing] weren’t fun at all, especially as I returned from court the next day, I was interrogated again. I wasn’t taken back to prison but taken back to the same cell… I thought, ‘If there’s supposed to be some kind of due process, why am I back in the cell?’
“I didn’t know what to think for days. I had suicidal thoughts because nothing made sense, that wasn’t the only time I had suicidal thoughts but that was down the end of a black hole.”
Source: Irish Mirror
