British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has arrived back in Australia and will soon reunite with her family after more than two years in an Iranian prison.
The Melbourne University academic’s family said they were “relieved and ecstatic”, as she was met by public health officials after disembarking from a plane at Canberra Airport on Friday morning.
Dr Moore-Gilbert was freed from jail in Iran on Thursday after 804 days behind bars on spying charges – released in exchange for three Iranians who were held in Thailand, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported.
The specialist in Middle East politics was detained in 2018 on espionage charges after authorities there found her partner was an citizen of Israel, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Friday.
Australia and Iran took more than six months to come to an agreement for a prisoner-swap deal for Dr Moore-Gilbert, who had reportedly been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Prime minister Scott Morrison said he was “thrilled and relieved” that Dr Moore-Gilbert had been released but added it would take time for her to process her “horrible” ordeal.
The prisoner exchange deal – which Mr Morrison repeatedly declined to comment on – also involved high-level negotiations with the Thailand government, according to Australian media reports.
Thai authorities disclosed that three Iranians who were arrested in 2012 had been deported and sent to Iran. The New York Times reported the three Iranians had been held in Thailand over a bomb plot.
Both Australia and Dr Moore-Gilbert have rejected Iran’s allegations that she was working as a spy for Israel.
On Thursday the academic thanked officials who had worked “tirelessly” for her release. “I have nothing but respect, love and admiration for the great nation of Iran and its warm-hearted, generous and brave people,” she said in a statement. “It is with bittersweet feelings that I depart your country, despite the injustices which I have been subjected to.”
Foreign minister Marise Payne has said that Ms Moore-Gilbert will now have to quarantine before being reunited with her family.
Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International UK, said it was an “enormous relief” to hear of her release – adding that there may be “grounds for hoping” that UK-Iranian dual nationals like Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe could also be released in the weeks ahead.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard said: “I don’t know what it means for us, it’s definitely a good thing for Kylie and it’s definitely a good thing for all of us that deals are being done.”
