Iran charges jailed Aussies with spying
The three detained Australians being held in a brutal Tehran prison have been charged with spying, an Iranian official has confirmed.
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Iran has charged the three detained Australians with spying, according to local media reports.
Travel-blogging couple Joely King and Mark Firkin were alleged to have used a drone to take pictures of military sites, while Melbourne University lecturer Kylie Moore-Gilbert was accused of spying for another country, Tasnim news agency reported, citing judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili.
It was the first official confirmation that the Australians have been detained in Iran after their families said last week they had been arrested in the Islamic republic.
“The news is correct,” Esmaili said according to Tasnim. “One case is of two people taking photos of military sites and our forbidden areas,” he was quoted as saying.
They had been identified at the time and images were found on a drone they were using, he added.
The development comes as a friend of the Aussie bloggers detained in Iran revealed to News Corp Australia they had been looking forward to ending their trip in London as early as Christmas time.
Pakistan-based tour operator Sanaullah Marwat said he was shocked by the jailing of Mark Firkin and Joely King, whom he described as “great friends and amazing humans”.
The couple, who have been detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison since early July, posted about their travels with Mr Marwat in Pakistan’s remote Kalasha Valley on June 6.
Mr Marwat told News Corp he “was in shock to see poor couple going through such (a) situation. I’m 100 per cent sure they are innocent.”
“They were nature lovers, loved (the) beach as they carried their surfing board and were looking forward to end their journey in London by Christmas I guess.”
He also said the couple had shared with him their “amazing knowledge about 4x4 upgrades and accessories”.
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On March 7 this year, Mr Firkin and Ms King marked what they said was “a loose geographical halfway point” in their journey after 600 days on the road.
“As you may have noticed we tend to move pretty slowly so rushing through the Middle East and Europe didn’t really appeal to us,” they said.
After Iran, Mr Firkin and Ms King had planned to travel through Turkey and into Europe, although they stated on their website that their itinerary was “still very loose”.
The bloggers have been detained at the same Tehran prison as Australian academic Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, whose arrest one year ago was confirmed on the weekend in a family statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Iran confirmed Dr Moore-Gilbert’s detention of for the first time yesterday, as tensions between Tehran and Riyadh escalated over drone attacks on Saudi oil assets.
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There are reports that Saudi Arabia may launch strikes in retaliation after a significant disruption to their oil production sparking a rise in worldwide prices.
The attacks had been blamed on drones from Yemen launched by Houthi militia fighting against Saudi-backed forces, but new intelligence contradicted the claim.
“The preliminary results show that the weapons are Iranian and we are currently working to determine the location [of launch],” Colonel Turki al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, said.
“The terrorist attack did not originate from Yemen as the Houthi militia claimed.”
Abbas Mousavi, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, told a news conference in Iran on Monday local time that Dr Moore-Gilbert was in custody.
He was asked about three Australians, including the travel bloggers.
Mr Mousavi, according to a translated statement, said: “I don’t know about three (Australian) citizens. There is one I know about last year who was arrested because of spying for a foreign enemy government, but I don’t know about the other two.”
Iran has arrested at least 30 foreigners, or citizens with dual nationality, since 2014.
There are claims that Dr Moore-Gilbert was arrested to be used as a bargaining chip in a prisoner swap.
Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian was released in 2016 as part of a prisoner swap. The dual national American-Iranian had spent more than a year in custody.
Dr Moore-Gilbert has spent almost a year in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
Solitary confinement prisoners are blindfolded when moving about the prison, have only a blanket to sleep on and lights are left on 24 hours a day.
It is believed Ms King is being held at the same prison as Dr Moore-Gilbert but she is in the general population.
Few details have been released about Mr Firkin’s treatment.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne told the Senate last week: “Since they were detained, the Australian Government has been pressing the Iranian Government for their release. I have communicated with my Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Zarif, many times about these cases, including through face-to-face meetings.”