Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert gives thanks for her freedom

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian-British academic detained in Iran for more than two years, has paid tribute to the Australian diplomats who worked to secure her release, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described her freeing as “a miracle”.

The Melbourne University academic’s release brings to an end more than two years of diplomatic feuding between Australia and Iran which included Moore-Gilbert being transferred to a notorious remote women’s prison in the desert.

“Thank you also to all of you who have supported me and campaigned for my freedom, it has meant the world to me to have you behind me throughout what has been a long and traumatic ordeal,” she said in a statement released on Thursday morning.

The Cambridge University-educated 33-year-old, who most recently worked as a lecturer in Islamic studies at the University of Melbourne, was arrested in September 2018 while at an educational conference and was later convicted of espionage.

After 804 days in detention, Moore-Gilbert also thanked the “warm-hearted, generous and brave” Iranian people and “the great nation of Iran” alongside her gratitude to Australian diplomats. Her release was secured in exchange for the release of Iranian prisoners held in Thailand.

“It is with bittersweet feelings that I depart your country, despite the injustices which I have been subjected to,” the 33-year-old Australian-British academic said. “I came to Iran as a friend and with friendly intentions, and depart Iran with those sentiments not only still intact, but strengthened.”

Moore-Gilbert’s family said they were “ecstatic”, praising Australia’s Prime Minister, the Ambassador to Iran and the Foreign Minister.

“We cannot convey the overwhelming happiness that each of us feel at this incredible news,” they said.

“Our family sincerely thanks the Australian government for its sustained efforts to secure Kylie’s freedom, in particular Marise Payne, Lyndall Sachs and Scott Morrison.”

Moore-Gilbert was she was picked up at Tehran airport while trying to leave the country after attending an academic conference in 2018.

Despite the celebration over Moore-Gilbert’s release, human rights groups condemned her treatment in Iranian prisons and called for an investigation into claims she was tortured. While in detention, she was sent to Tehran’s Evin prison, convicted of spying and sentenced to 10 years behind bars. Moore-Gilbert had vehemently denied the charges and maintained her innocence.

Hours after speaking to Moore-Gilbert on the phone on Thursday morning during her return travel to Australia, Morrison said the effort to secure the academic’s release was nothing short of a “miracle”.

“When I got the news last night, I couldn’t tell you – I said before I believe in miracles. I tell you what, I just got another one,” he told Nine’s Today program.

“She is still processing, but I’ve got to say the sound of her voice and the tone of her voice was very uplifting, particularly given what she has been through. She is obviously still taking it all in, as you would expect.”

At a press conference later on Thursday morning, Morrison – attending with Payne – defended Moore-Gilbert, saying she “had done nothing wrong” amid baseless accusations by the Iranian government that she had been a spy. Morrison did not condemn the Iranian government but instead spoke of the relief that years of work had achieved her release.

The Melbourne University academic’s release came as the result of a prisoner exchange of Saeed Moradi, Mohammad Khazaei and Masoud Sedaghat Zadeh – held in Thailand after a failed 2012 bomb targeting Israeli diplomats. The PM said the prisoner swap deal would not put any Australians at risk.

“The way we are able to be successful in these arrangements is we deal with them discreetly but I can assure Australians we would never do anything to prejudice the safety of Australians,” he said.

Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who was also jailed for espionage in Iran for more than 500 days in 2014 after a closed door-trial, said while he was overjoyed for Moore-Gilbert.

The sheer length of her imprisonment was “shocking”, he said.

Rezaian said it was possible Moore-Gilbert was unaware of the campaigning for her release during her imprisonment.

“She’d been in isolation for a very long period of time, even longer than I was and I can tell you that after a year and a half of being held in the same facilities that she was, I had very little understanding of what was being done on my behalf in the outside world,” he said.

Australian journalist Peter Greste who was jailed in Egypt for 13 months said the news of Moore-Gilbert’s release was an “enormous relief.”

“I can’t begin to describe how happy I am that she is out of prison and on her way home,” Greste told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

“I suspect it will take time for Kylie to get used to the idea of being free.

“But I know she will be welcomed home with enormous love and joy. I can’t wait to see her back on Aussie soil,” he said.

Campaign group ‘Free Kylie Moore-Gilbert’, made up of Moore-Gilbert’s friends and colleagues said her release marked “a very bright day in Australia indeed”.

“We are over the moon that our amazing friend and colleague Kylie Moore-Gilbert is on her way home after 804 days in prison in Iran,” they group said in a statement hours after news of her release.

“An innocent woman is finally free.”

The University of Melbourne said it was relieved that Moore-Gilbert had been released.

“Our University community is delighted that Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been released and will be coming home to her family and friends,” said Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell. “We have waited a long time for this day.”

“This has been a very difficult period and we thank the Federal Government and the Department of Foreign Affairs for their relentless efforts to secure her safe release,” Professor Maskell said.

Moore-Gilbert was one of several Westerners held in Iran on widely criticised espionage charges that activists and UN investigators believe is a systematic effort to leverage their imprisonment for money or influence in negotiations with the West, which Tehran denies.

Over the summer, she was transferred to the remote Qarchak Prison, east of Tehran, as fears escalated over the spread of the coronavirus in the country’s notoriously crowded prisons.

Moore-Gilbert had appealed to the Australian government to work harder for her release. In her letters to Morrison, she wrote that she had been subjected to “grievous violations” of her rights, including psychological torture.

‘Hostage diplomacy’

Amnesty International Australia called for independent investigations into Ms Moore-Gibert’s allegations of torture.

“We were always extremely concerned that Kylie was imprisoned solely for exercising her right to freedom of expression and association – including through her work as an academic – and it’s an enormous relief to hear of her release,” said Rose Kulak Amnesty’s individuals at risk campaigner.

“Her allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, including through prolonged solitary confinement, must be independently and effectively investigated by the Iranian authorities and anyone found responsible brought to justice in fair trials.”

Elaine Pearson, Australian director of Human Rights Watch, welcomed the news of Moore-Gilbert’s release but criticised Iran’s “deplorable use of hostage diplomacy”.

“There is a clear pattern by Iran’s government to arbitrarily detain foreign and dual nationals to use them in bargaining chips in negotiations with other states,” she said.

“And as Kylie comes home, this is a stark reminder that there are many Iranians who are arbitrarily detained simply for peaceful acts of free expression.”