Jailed academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert sent back to Iran’s Evin Prison

Oct 30, 2020

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a British-Australian academic convicted of espionage in Iran, has been transferred back to the country’s most notorious prison, the Australian government confirmed Friday. 

“Iranian authorities have advised our ambassador in Tehran that Dr. Moore-Gilbert has been moved to Evin Prison,” a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement.

In July, Iranian authorities moved Moore-Gilbert from Evin in Tehran to the Qarchak women’s prison, which activists describe as rampant with disease and violence. Her friends and family lost track of her whereabouts about a week ago, before receiving confirmation that she had been sent back to Evin. 

“I’m relieved that the Australian government has finally managed to locate Kylie six days after she went missing,” friend and fellow Middle East researcher Dara Conduit told AFP. “But make no mistake: This is not a win for Kylie.”

Iran has held Moore-Gilbert, a lecturer on Middle East politics at the University of Melbourne, since September 2018, when she was arrested by intelligence agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after returning to Tehran from an academic conference in the holy city of Qom. 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry accused Moore-Gilbert of “violating Iran’s national security.” She denies all charges of espionage but in December lost an appeal against her 10-year-sentence. 

While jailed at Evin’s Ward 2A, Moore-Gilbert staged several hunger strikes and was reportedly subjected to prolonged periods of solitary confinement in a two-by-three-meter cell. In a series of letters smuggled from the prison, Moore-Gilbert said food and medications were scarce and that she worried for her mental health. 

“I beg you to act faster to bring this terrible trauma that myself and my family must live through day after day to a resolution,” she wrote to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, adding that there was “no hope for a fair trial.” 

The maximum security Evin Prison, which the US State Department describes as “an institution synonymous with torture,” is known for holding high-profile foreign detainees. Dual nationals including US-Iranian citizens Siamak Namazi and Morad Tahbaz remain in Iranian detention, though Navy veteran Michael White was freed from Iranian custody in June.