Australia Welcomes Release of British-Australian Academic from Iran Jail

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (left) and Australian Foreign Minister Marine Payne speak to the media during a virtual press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, November 26, 2020. REUTERS./

SYDNEY, Nov 26 (Reuters) – Australia on Thursday welcomed the release of British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was detained in Iran in September 2018 and had been serving a 10-year sentence for espionage.

“I am extremely pleased and relieved to advise that Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been released from detention in Iran and will soon be reunited with her family,” Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said in a statement.

“The Australian Government has consistently rejected the grounds on which the Iranian government arrested, detained and convicted Dr Moore-Gilbert. We continue to do so.”

Iran has exchanged Moore-Gilbert, a specialist in Middle East politics at the University of Melbourne, with three Iranians who had been detained abroad, Iran‘s state broadcaster IRIB reported on Wednesday.


(Reporting by Renju Jose; editing by Jonathan Oatis)


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