Tehran: Iran has freed Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a British-Australian academic who has been detained in Iran for more than two years, in exchange for three Iranians held abroad, Iranian state TV has reported.
The state TV report offered no further details on Wednesday, local time, beyond saying that the three Iranians released in the swap had been detained for trying to bypass sanctions.
Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been held in Iran for more than two years.
Moore-Gilbert was a University of Melbourne lecturer on Middle Eastern studies when she was sent to Tehran’s Evin Prison in September 2018 and sentenced to 10 years. She is one of several Westerners held in Iran on internationally criticised espionage charges that their families and rights groups say are unfounded.
It was not immediately clear when Moore-Gilbert would arrive back in Australia. State TV aired video showing her with a grey hijab sitting at what appeared to be a greeting room at one of Tehran’s airports. She wore a blue face mask under her chin.
