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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Harriet Brewis

Jolie King and Mark Firkin latest: British-Australian blogger and boyfriend freed from jail in Iran

A Biritish-Australian woman and her boyfriend have been released from jail in Iran, after three months in detention.

Jolie King and Mark Firkin, from Australia, were arrested in Tehran earlier this year for allegedly flying a drone without a permit.

The couple returned home after all charges against them were dropped.

"We are extremely happy and relieved to be safely back in Australia with those we love," they said in a statement.

"While the past few months have been very difficult, we know it has also been tough for those back home who have been worried for us."

Australian bloggers Jolie King and Mark Firkin have been released from Evin prison in Tehran (Instagram)

They thanked the Australian government for helping secure their release.

There was no immediate acknowledgement Saturday by Iranian officials or in the country's state media of the couple's release.

The couple spent almost three months in Tehran's notorious Evin prison after they were arrested for flying a drone near a military zone without a licence.

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Before their arrest, they had been globe-trotting for two years and documenting their travels on Instagram and YouTube.

They requested privacy as they seek to "get back to (their) normal lives."

"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," they said.

Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert has reportedly been held in solitary confinement in Iran for months (PA)

A third British-Australian, identified earlier by her family as University of Melbourne academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, has not been released. She has been in detention for a year.

In September, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted a judiciary spokesman as saying the three Australians had been detained for spying.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the government continued to seek Ms Moore-Gilbert’s return, but said her situation was “very complex”.

"She has been detained for some considerable time, and has faced the Iranian legal system and has been convicted and sentenced," Payne said, adding the government did not accept the spying charges against her.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, holding her daughter Gabriella. (PA)

The two British-Australian women were believed to be the first British passport holders without dual Iranian nationality to be held in the country in recent years.

The prison in which they have been held is where British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, has spent the past three years.

On Friday it was announced that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe would allow her daughter Gabriella, five, to return to the UK to begin schooling.

Gabriella was 22 months old when her mother was arrested at Tehran airport in 2016 and has visited her in prison once a week for the past three years.

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