Iran swaps jailed British-Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert with Iranians jailed abroad, say reports

Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert 

Credit: PA

Iran has released Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the British-Australian academic who has been detained in the country for over two years on espionage charges, in exchange for three Iranian prisoners who were being held abroad, according to Iranian state media. 

A video released on Wednesday evening by Iran’s state broadcaster shows Ms Moore-Gilbert entering a van with her belongings, as well as the three Iranian men, who she has reportedly been exchanged for, being celebrated upon their return to the country. 

Iranian state TV said the three men had been detained for trying to bypass sanctions. 

The Cambridge-educated Islamic studies lecturer was arrested for espionage after attending a conference in Qom in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a secret trial.

Her release comes exactly one month after she was reported to have been moved from the desert prison of Qarchak, one of the most dangerous women’s prisons in the country, to an unknown location. Most of the first two years of her detention were spent in the notorious Evin prison.

In letters that were smuggled out of Evin prison earlier this year, Ms Moore-Gilbert said she had turned down an offer to spy for the Iranian government in return for a reduced sentence. 

The Australian government has maintained throughout her imprisonment that her charges were politically motivated.