British Spy

-Removed-

I thought that was the case obviously a mincespy

@badradger said
released from UAE prison, was pressure brought to bear.

In all likelihood, he was spying. Spying is part of international relations. Everybody does it (although the "five eyes" nations do not spy on each other).

@ashiitaka said
In all likelihood, he was spying. Spying is part of international relations. Everybody does it (although the "five eyes" nations do not spy on each other).

No, he most certainly wasn't. The SIS do not use spies who cannot speak the local language. The UAE are not going to be particularly upset about SIS activities. What seems to have upset them is that he was in contact with dissident groups, they may have thought he could be passing information to them. Although an equally likely explanation is that he didn't pay a big enough bribe for the interview to the official who blew the whistle.

@ashiitaka said
In all likelihood, he was spying. Spying is part of international relations. Everybody does it (although the "five eyes" nations do not spy on each other).

The five eyes nations share intelligence info, but that does not mean they do not spy on each other. They do spy on one another's citizens and sharing the collected information with each other in order to circumvent restrictive domestic regulations on surveillance of citizens. Edward Snowden described the Five Eyes as a "supra-national intelligence organisation that does not answer to the known laws of its own countries"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes

That is why those five nations hate Snowden so much. He exposed them for being aspiring autocrats.