A BRIT student has been sentenced to life under a brutal prison regime where inmates are reportedly threatened with rape, chained to beds and tortured.

Matthew Hedges' wife said her husband is feeling "terrified"after being convicted of spying in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday.

Daniela Tejada said she has only had "five minutes" on the phone with her husband but revealed she is already "very scared for Matt" now he is behind bars in Abu Dhabi.

Hedges, 31, denied spying and insisted he had only been researching his PhD. The UAE government is now studying a request for clemency by his family.

However, for now he is at the mercy of a prison system which, according to America’s annual report on human rights last year, has faced “allegations of torture."

The US report added: “There were reports of prisoner-on-prisoner violence that led to injury and death. There were also allegations of inmate drug overdoses and suicide attempts.”

It is not yet clear where Mr Hedges is being held, but the country's biggest jail, the notorious Al Wathba prison, is just 40 minutes' drive from the court room where he was sentenced.

Built 35 years ago, it is the largest and oldest of the emirate's five prisons and contains male and female prisoners separated by large metal gates.

Those that run the prison boasted of its blooming "pink flowers, well-kept kitchen, library, theatre and workshop" in an interview with state media.

They say the prison is more like a "residential detention centre" which is regularly inspected by human rights organisations and public prosecutors.

A spokesman told journalists: “We follow specific guidelines to ensure that they (prisoners) all receive their full rights in rehabilitation, medical care, nutrition, communicating with their families and their lawyers.

However, those that have served time in the jail - dubbed by some the Guantanamo Bay of the UAE - tell a very different story.

Leaked letters obtained by the the Arab Organization for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR), in 2017 revealed prisoners have long complained of brutal torture and "degrading conditions of detention."

One terrified "political prisoner" said she was brutally tortured during her arrest and was "whipped and brutally beaten and burned with cigarettes all over her body.”

The letter told how up to 80 prisoners were allegedly crammed inside cockroach-infested cells made for eight with just one filthy open toilet between them.

Another female prisoner claimed she was threatened with rape and left blind in one eye after being badly beaten by guards.

An inmate called Mariam revealed: “The cells in Al Wathba are overcrowded and diseases and insects, such as ants and cockroaches, are rampant.

"Each cell has four bunk-beds, without a ladder. There are four people sleeping on each bed, and the rest are on the floor.

"Each cell is only enough for eight people, but because of the large numbers, 80 detainees are forced into the cell.

"Water is cut for eight hours a day, malnutrition is common, and the food quality is poor and not suitable for animals."

The AOHR report reads: "Insects such as ants and cockroaches spread inside the cells, leading to disease outbreaks and rapid transmission of infection among detainees.

"Water was cut off from cells for more than eight hours a day, with detainees deprived of clean drinking water.

"This along with poor nutrition and bad food and outbreaks of insects in food, led to most detainees suffering stress and diabetes."

Other prisoners told how the air conditioning systems were broke for months on end as temperatures reached an unbearable 50 degrees.

Prisoners also claimed they were starved of daylight for days on end which left many feeling suicidal.

In one particularly horrifying incident, a Moroccan woman jumped to her death from the top of the prison roof.

One cancer patient was also said to have been denied medication by the prison and was sent to isolation at a hospital so that her fellow inmates did "not watch her die".

While in the medical unit she was said to have been chained to her bed "like a drug addict."

Al Razeen prison is located 60 miles from Abu Dhabi and currently holds an estimated 100 inmates - mainly domestic "political prisoners."

The prison conditions are notoriously poor and there have been numerous concerns raised about the treatment that detainees face in the prison.

The latter have worryingly reported the use of extreme torture from beatings, hair and nails being pulled, to threats of rape and daily psychological nightmares.