Tehran exchanges Kylie Moore-Gilbert for three Iranians jailed abroad

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Iran releases footage of Kylie Moore-Gilbert prisoner exchange – video

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the Australian-British academic detained by Iran on espionage charges, has been released in a prisoner exchange for three Iranians, reliable state media sources in Iran have reported.

In what will be seen as a victory for Iranian state hostage-taking by some and a humanitarian move by others, Moore-Gilbert was released on Wednesday morning, pictures released by the TV station IRIB showed. The move also raises hopes for the fate of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, dual UK-Iranian nationals who have been held since 2016 and 2017 respectively.

The three garlanded Iranians, one of them in a wheelchair, wore Iranian flags across their shoulders. They had been held in Australia for breaching sanctions.

The men were greeted at an airport or hotel lounge by Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi.

Moore-Gilbert, wearing a grey scarf and mask, was shown in the lounge looking composed but concerned before being escorted with a companion to a van.

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Iran’s Mehr news agency reported: “Today, two years after Gilbert’s conviction, the Islamic Republic finally decided to exchange her with three Iranian economic activists who had been detained for trying to circumvent sanctions.”

On its Telegram channel, the Iranian semi-official news agency Fars said Moore-Gilbert was exchanged for “an economic activist and two Iranian nationals detained abroad on trumped-up charges”.

Cambridge-educated Moore-Gilbert was a Middle East scholar at the University of Melbourne. She was convicted in a secret trial and given a 10-year sentence for espionage after being arrested in September 2018 in Tehran, where she had attended a conference.

Iran claimed she had connections with MI6 and links with Jewish universities. It was also claimed she had been researching the Syrian opposition and Bahrain Shias.

Two of the released Iranian men appear to have been convicted of terrorism eight years ago in Thailand. Thai officials believed the men were part of an attempt to assassinate Israeli diplomats in Bangkok.

Saeid Moradi, then 29, had his legs blown off when a bomb he attempted to throw at police detonated at his feet. He had been sentenced to life in prison for carrying explosives as well as for attempted murder. A second Iranian, Mohammad Kharzei, 43, was jailed for 15 years for possessing explosives.

Kate Allen, Director at Amnesty International UK, said: “We were always extremely concerned that Kylie was imprisoned solely for exercising her right to freedom of expression – including through her work as an academic – and it’s an enormous relief to hear of her release.

“There may now be renewed grounds for hoping that UK-Iranian dual-nationals like Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori will also be released from their unjust jail terms in Iran in the coming days or weeks.”

Earlier this year Moore-Gilbert had been moved to Qarchak women’s prison in a move that was linked to the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran. In what may have been the start of her release process, Moore-Gilbert had been moved back to Tehran’s Evin prison two months ago where she had spent the bulk of her time in detention since she was seized two years ago.

Moore-Gilbert recently met the head of Iran’s prisons organisation, Mohammad Mehdi Haj-Mohammadi, and the secretary of the Iranian high council for human rights, Ali Bagheri-Kani, and reportedly raised issues about her incarceration.

After the meeting, reported by the Iranian judiciary’s official news agency, Mizan, Haj-Mohammadi told prison staff they should act to fix shortcomings at Qarchak. “We understand that a prisoner is a criminal before entering the prison, but after entering the prison, we consider them a needy, capable person deserving of correction and assistance.”

Situated in the desert outside Tehran, Qarchak is widely regarded as the worst women’s prison in Iran. The Guardian had previously reported Moore-Gilbert was in good health in the days before she was moved from her ward in Qarchak.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, an Iranian human rights lawyer and political prisoner, was a close friend of Moore-Gilbert’s when they shared a cell in Evin. Sotoudeh, imprisoned since June 2018, was released, at least temporarily, a fortnight ago due to ill health.

She had twice gone on hunger strike to demand authorities release other political prisoners at risk of infection in the country’s often overcrowded and unsanitary detention facilities. Sotoudeh’s latest hunger strike ended after six weeks when she was admitted to hospital in poor health.