Australian-British academic returns to Canberra after spending 2-yrs in Iranian jail

After spending nearly 804 days in an Iranian jail, British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has returned back home in Australia on November 27. According to AP, the Iranian authorities had detained Kylie after discovering she was in a relationship with an Israeli citizen, which led to claims she was a spy for Israel. She was sentenced to 10-years in prison, however, she was freed early in exchange for the release of three Iranians who were held in Thailand. 

Kylie will be reuniting with her family after more than two years, however, first, she has to undergo quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns. An Australia media outlet reported that the government played a crucial role in bringing Thailand to the table and engineering the prisoner swap. The Thai government has confirmed returning the three-Iranians to their homeland, however, they did not explicitly link the transfer with Kylie’s release. 

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The 33-year-old had repeatedly denied the espionage allegations made against her. She was arrested back in 2018 after attending an academic conference in the holy city of Qom. In a statement, Kylie had praised the “warm-hearted, generous and brave” Iranian people despite what she described as a “long and traumatic ordeal”. 

Kylie said, “I have nothing but respect, love and admiration for the great nation of Iran and its warm-hearted, generous and brave people.”

Following her return, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that he was “thrilled and relieved” that Kylie had been released. However, he added that it would take time for her to process her “horrible ordeal”. Morrison also said that the tone of her voice was very uplifting, particularly given what she has been through. 

Further, when asked about the swap, Morrison said that he “wouldn’t go into those details, confirm them one way or the other”. But, he added that he could assure Australians in Iran that there had been nothing done to prejudice their safety and no prisoners were released in Australia.

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Iran welcomes ‘economic activists’  

Meanwhile, in Bangkok, Thai officials have confirmed the transfer of three Iranians involved in a botched 2012 bomb plot back to Tehran. While they didn’t mention anything about the swap, Iran, on the other hand, referred to the men as “economic activists”. However, it was noted that the three were linked to a wider bomb plot targeting Israeli diplomats.

According to AP, the three returned home to a “hero’s welcome”. They wore Iranian flags draped over their shoulders and their faces were largely obscured by black baseball caps and surgical masks. The recent “swap" was a sharp contrast to other prisoner exchanges Iran has trumpeted in the past, in which television anchors repeatedly said their names and broadcasters aired images of them reuniting with their families. As per reports, Iran is still holding a number of other foreign prisoners amid widespread concern from human rights groups that the country is using them as bargaining chips to promote its own interests. 

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