Seems some politics at play then, British academic Matthew Hedges has been pardoned despite the United Arab Emirates claiming he was a member of MI6 and was spying on military systems.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46341310 A spokesman for the UAE government, Jabel Al Lamki, claimed Mr Hedges had been "using two different identities to gather information from his targets". Mr Al Lamki added: "In one he was Matthew Hedges the PhD researcher, in another one he was Matthew Hedges the businessman, he was part-time PhD researcher, and part-time businessman, but he was 100% a secret service operative." So his two identities were Matthew Hedges and... Matthew Hedges! James Bond eat your heart out.