Brit ‘spy’ Matthew Hedges was forced to stand for whole days in ankle cuffs during six-month UAE jail ordeal

The Durham University PhD student, 31,  also claimed he was kept in solitary confinement and questioned for up to 15 hours at a time.

He had to go cold turkey from his medication and sat in darkness for 23 hours a day to avoid headaches from bright lights.

Mr Hedges, who was jailed for life and then granted a pardon, said he confessed to being an MI6 spy under duress.

He told The Times he "was never physically tortured, but it was psychological, and it felt like torture".

He added: "They started getting more and more aggressive and I’d have panic attacks for two or three days in a row.

“After all that pressure, I said ‘OK, fine, whatever, yeah sure’. I was so scared and on edge, because I’d started the lie.”

Mr Hedges, who insists he was in UAE doing research for his PhD, was arrested at Dubai airport in May.

He was freed nine days ago after an intervention from Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

After it was announced that he would be released, Mrs Tejada said she "cannot wait to have Matt back home".

She added: "The presidential pardon for Matt is the best news we could’ve received.

"Thank you friends, family, media, academics, and the wider public for your undivided support – I’ve been brought back to life."

In his first statement issued after landing at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday morning, Mr Hedges praised his "brave and strong" wife, saying "seeing her and my family after this ordeal is the best thing that could have happened".

His wife mounted a campaign to free the 31-year-old and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt personally discussed the case with UAE leaders.

Earlier, she said news of the pardon brought her family's "nightmare" to an end, and Mr Hunt described it as "fantastic".

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