HUNTER raised woman Jolie King and her partner Mark Firkin have spent their first night on home soil after being locked up for months in a notorious Iranian prison.
The couple are back in Australia with all the charges against them dropped, after being arrested for flying an unlicensed drone near a military zone.
Ms King grew up in Newcastle and went to Whitebridge High School, before studying hairdressing at Tighes Hill TAFE. She worked for several years at Nesbitt Hair and Body in Cooks Hill, before she and former Coffs Harbour builder Mr Firkin moved to Western Australia in 2015. Her family still live in Lake Macquarie.
The Perth couple thanked the Australian government for their efforts to bring them home.
"We are extremely happy and relieved to be safely back in Australia with those we love," they said in a statement on Saturday, after almost three months in jail.
"We are grateful for the efforts of the Australian government in helping secure our release, and we thank our family and friends for their love and support.
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"We know there are others who remain in detention in Iran, including a fellow Australian, and believe intense media coverage may not be helpful for efforts to bring them home."
The pair have been travelling for two years overland from Australia to the UK in their Toyota Landcruiser camper and documenting their travels on Instagram and YouTube before their arrests.
Their aim, the couple wrote, was to "inspire anyone wanting to travel" and to "break down the stigma around travelling to countries which get a bad rap in the media".
The couple's last Instagram post, from June 26, has received multiple comments from well wishers.
"Thrilled to hear you both are safe, healthy, and home with your families!" one person wrote.
"Fantastic news Mark and Jolie are back home in Oz with their families. Thanks to the hard work of the Australian diplomats and Government and the Iranian Government just got my birthday wish and my Christmas one thank you. Sending mark and Jolie lots of love from wales," another wrote.
"Congrats on finding freedom. Please use this experience and your platform to advocate to free others. Adventures often begin not by road but by heart," another wrote.
One of Ms King's friends from Whitebridge High had told the Newcastle Herald last month that she had her "fingers crossed" for the couple's quick release.
"She has always been here and studied here. She packed up her life and quit work to travel. She loved it," the friend said.
Another school friend, Nikia Lance, said she had last seen Ms King when she acted as a model for her during a TAFE assessment.
"I couldn't think of a time when she had dramas of any sort with anyone, and I don't think anyone could say a bad word about her," she said.
"It's so incredible that she has been able to leave not only Newcastle but to travel the world and capture so many beautiful places.
"I never would have thought 10 years ago that any of us would be able to achieve what she has.
"But it's just heartbreaking to hear she has been taken away and put into the nightmare she has been forced to live the last two months.
"Nobody deserves this, but especially not someone with such positive energy.
"I really hope they both make it home soon."
Another woman who knew Ms King after school said she was a "lovely girl, very well respected" and her friends were "devastated".
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese congratulated the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for its work in bringing the couple home.
But the fight remains to bring a third Australian detained in Evin Prison back.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the government was working to return Melbourne University lecturer Kylie Moore-Gilbert.
She described Dr Moore-Gilbert's situation as "very complex".
"We are continuing our discussions with the Iranian government, we don't accept the charges upon which she was convicted and we will seek to have her returned to Australia," the senator said of the woman who's been in detention since October 2018.
Hours after the couple's arrival home, Attorney-General Christian Porter confirmed he'd decided Iranian Reza Dehbashi Kivi, a cancer researcher, shouldn't be extradited to the US.
The man had been arrested in September 2018 after US authorities accused him of conspiring to export electronic military devices to Iran.
Queensland Corrective Services confirmed the University of Queensland PhD student was no longer in their custody, but gave no further information.
Iranian state media agency IRIB reports Mr Dehbashi Kivi returned to Tehran on Saturday.
Mr Porter said the decision to not extradite the researcher came after considering "all the circumstances of this particular case".
"While it is likely that because of Mr Kivi's nationality some will speculate regarding this matter, consistent with prior practice I do not intend to comment further on the particular details of this case," he said in a statement.
Australian Associated Press
