Mystery as British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert goes ‘missing’ in Iranian prison system

Mystery surrounded the location of detained British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert after activists reported that she had been moved to a secret location from Iran’s notoriously harsh Qarchak Prison.

Supporters criticised efforts by the Australian government to discover her whereabouts after Ms Moore-Gilbert said to have been moved from Qarchak, south of Tehran, along with her belongings.

She is serving a minimum ten-year jail term for espionage after a secret trial, having been arrested two years ago as she prepared to return to Australia after a study tour of Iran.

Campaigners say she is one of a number of foreign or dual-national citizens held on trumped-up charges by the Iranian regime to try to secure diplomatic concessions from their governments.

The reports came hours after a senior Iranian official met Ms Kylie Moore-Gilbert at Qarchak where “certain orders were issued in order to comply with their requests”, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

It reported that Ali Baqeri Kani, head of an official Iranian human rights group, had face-to-face talks with both Ms Moore-Gilbert and Nasrin Sotoudeh, the prominent Iranian activist lawyer who is being held at Evin jail in Tehran.

Ms Sotoudeh had been on hunger strike to campaign for the release of political prisoners because of the coronavirus pandemic, but ended her protest earlier this month due to health concerns.

It was not immediately clear if the move from Qarchak, which had been grappling with a Covid-19 outbreak, was a promising development.

Ms Moore-Gilbert was moved to Qarchak from Evin in July in what a US-based human rights group said was an act of “inexplicable cruelty” that would see her imprisoned with “violent criminals”.

The FreeKylieMG group on Monday called on Australia to summon the Iranian ambassador to question him about Ms Moore-Gilbert’s whereabouts.

“We are deeply concerned about the welfare of our dear friend and colleague Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, and the Australian government’s increasingly empty assurances that her case is their highest priority,” said the group.

“In short, if the reports are true, then an Australian citizen has gone missing within the Iranian prison system, despite the careful watch of ‘quiet diplomacy’.

“Kylie has been held as a hostage by a foreign government for 774 days and Australia has failed to achieve any meaningful progress in the case. It is high time that the Australian government rethinks its strategy. Kylie deserves so much better.”