‘Real risk of torture’: Moore-Gilbert says Wong must act now for detainee in Turkey

A Victorian academic who spent years wrongfully jailed in Iran has warned that a Melbourne woman detained in Turkey over alleged connections to a Kurdish nationalist group is at risk of physical torture in prison and urged Australia’s foreign minister to intervene.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert said high-level political intervention was required to assist Cigdem Aslan, who was arrested at Istanbul Airport by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation and police.

Melbourne nurse Cigdem Aslan, 51, has been arrested by Turkish authorities.

“We need political action now, beyond a consular level,” said Moore-Gilbert, who spent 804 days in prison in Iran on charges of espionage.

“This needs to be escalated to the top. [Foreign Minister] Penny Wong needs to pick up the phone to her Turkish counterpart and inquire about this case and express the Australian government’s concern.”

In a statement provided to The Age, Aslan’s daughter, who asked that her name be withheld, said the allegations of terrorism links were “categorically false”.

She said her mother was arrested on September 15 on her way back to Melbourne after a holiday visiting family.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert spent years imprisoned in Iran on trumped-up espionage charges.Credit: Scott McNaughton

On Aslan’s previous visit to Turkey nine months prior, she faced no issues and returned home safely, she said.

After a hearing on September 18, Aslan was taken to jail, she said.

“I have not had any personal contact with my mother in over a week and a half, her lawyer is the only one that has been in contact with her. My family is deeply concerned about her current mental health and overall welfare.

“I urge the Australian government to take immediate action to facilitate the safe return of my mother.”

Her plea came as NSW Greens senator David Shoebridge wrote to ASIO director-general Mike Burgess asking him to investigate allegations of foreign interference, including Turkish media reports that Aslan was tracked by the country’s intelligence in the months leading up to her arrest.

A trained nurse who also goes by Lenna Aslan, she was detained on suspicion of conducting activities for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party – known as the PKK – which is listed as a terrorist organisation in Turkey and Australia.

Shoebridge said her arrest had sparked deep fears in the wider Kurdish community in Australia, amid concerns she may have been arrested for her role as a co-chair of a local community centre in Melbourne.

“Given the continued reports of direct interference, I ask that you take urgent steps to investigate this and provide the Kurdish Australian diaspora around Australia with reassurance that you will be working to keep them safe,” Shoebridge wrote in a letter seen by The Age.

Moore-Gilbert, a political scientist specialising in the Middle East, criticised the federal government’s lack of strategy in dealing with the wrongful detention of its citizens abroad, describing the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) as ill-equipped to oversee such cases.

“There is a crucial window of time, it could be a few days or weeks … before the person’s formally charged and thrown into the judicial system of that country, and then it becomes so much more difficult to negotiate their release,” Moore-Gilbert said.

A Senate inquiry probing the way DFAT manages cases of citizens wrongfully held in government prisons or as hostages began on Thursday.

Aslan has not been in contact with her family since her arrest in Istanbul.

Moore-Gilbert, a founding member of Australians Wrongfully Detained Abroad – alongside fellow released detainees, journalist Cheng Lei and economist Sean Turnell – said she would raise Aslan’s case when giving evidence at the inquiry in the coming weeks.

“In her case there’s a real risk of physical torture in Turkish prisons,” she said.

“Many people, especially associated with the PKK, rightfully or wrongfully, have been arrested and tortured in Turkish prisons … so we also need to be very high level in our diplomacy to ensure that she is protected and not being tortured right now as we speak.”

Moore-Gilbert said once a person is charged in a foreign country, DFAT is unable to do much more “than provide visits and check on prison conditions.”

“We have no definition of a wrongful detention or an unjust detention in Australia,” she said.

“When a case like this happens, we don’t have a way of saying, ‘That smells bad, let’s immediately escalate that up to a decision-maker who has the power to actually influence things’.

“There are too many examples of people who have been arrested abroad, and their cases should have been escalated immediately, but they’ve been left languishing in prison, and then they are charged, and it’s too late.”

Turkish pro-government newspaper The Daily Sabah also reported claims that Aslan had Australian-based links to the PKK. The newspaper alleged she had been tracked by Turkish intelligence “for a long time” and had been in contact with “high-level members of the terror group”.

Turkish media said Aslan co-chaired a Kurdish organisation linked to the PKK and alleged she had participated in Australian protests against Turkish raids on Kurdish forces in Iraq.

Aslan’s friends said her arrest was politically motivated, previously telling The Age: “She is a human rights activist. She is not a terrorist.”

Her daughter said her mother, a bilingual health educator at a women’s health centre, migrated to Australia on a refugee visa in 1996.

“As a single mother, she has made countless sacrifices … [she] is not only an advocate for Kurdish rights, but for all human and women’s rights.”

The PKK has fought a long-running insurgency against Turkey in which about 40,000 people have been killed.

The federal government said it was closely monitoring the case and had conveyed to Turkish authorities its strong interest in the matter.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the government continued to provide consular assistance to Aslan.

“The Australian Government works tirelessly to support and advocate for Australians detained overseas,” he said. “We acknowledge this situation remains distressing for her family.”

ASIO have been contacted for comment.

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