An Australian scientist who has been in prison in Iran on suspicion of espionage says she has been mentally abused. She escaped but returned to prison fearing the consequences of getting caught. Kylie Moore-Gilbert first told her story on TV channel Sky News Australia.
Moore-Gilbert, a lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies at Melbourne University, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018 and ultimately spent two years in prison. She was released in November in exchange for three Iranians detained abroad.
She denies that she was a spy. She is convinced she was arrested to put pressure on the Australian government, something Iran denies.
‘Isolation cell was devastating’
Kylie Moore-Gilbert spent seven months in a four square meter isolation cell of the two years in prison. There was only a phone that she could use to talk to the guards. “You’re going crazy. It’s devastating. I thought, if I can, I’ll kill myself.”
The Australian managed to escape one day, but she decided to go back to prison herself.
“I put socks on my hands so I could grab the sharp pins on the prison wall. Then I climbed on a roof and went down another wall. Then I ran to a village a little further.” Moore-Gilbert eventually decided to return, because she wore prison clothes, did not speak the language and feared the consequences of being arrested again after a search.
Moore-Gilbert says in the Sky News interview that she is still working on her recovery.
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