Deal to free Kylie Moore-Gilbert may cost other innocent Westerners

The diplomatic effort taken into securing the release of Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert from an Iranian jail may have a permanent toll on other trapped Westerners, Piers Akerman writes.

The full cost of the welcome ­release of courageous academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert from the clutches of Iran’s evil government is, unfortunately, likely to be a permanent toll on Westerners trapped by the dangerously mad mullahs.

Dr Moore-Gilbert endured just over two years in Iran’s foul gaols, including the notorious converted chicken slaughter house Qarchak before an ­arduous diplomatic process involving the release of three convicted terrorists secured her freedom.

Throughout her confinement she was subjected to periods of isolation and repeated interrogation sessions by skilled torturers attempting to turn her against the West and, hopefully, force a false confession that she was an Israeli spy or in touch with the Israeli security service through her Israeli husband.

Her release was negotiated by senior Australian security personnel working with our diplomats and officials from the Thai government who were responsible for the Iranian terrorists.

There is no suggestion that Dr Moore-Gilbert was ever a spy for Australia or any other government.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert was released from jail in Iran.

There is direct evidence, however, to demonstrate that the three Iranians planned to murder Israeli diplomats in Thailand before they were arrested.

One of the men even blew off his own legs when a bomb to be used to kill the Israelis detonated as the would-be Iranian assassin was being captured.

He was shown on Iranian television being cheered home in a wheelchair, the Iranian flag draped over his ­shoulders.

The Iranian-sponsored Lebanese terrorist outfit Hezbollah has attempted to carry out similar attacks on Israeli diplomats at embassies around the world but has been largely thwarted by Western intelligence organisations.

Unfortunately, the theocratic Iran­ian regime views the return of its trained killers as a victory over the West and is likely to further encourage more hostage-taking by its own forces and its proxies in Hezbollah and Hamas.

The incoming Biden administration in the US will have to take care not to ease sanctions on the rogue ­nation imposed by the Trump admin­istration and risk emboldening the Iranians to hasten their development of nuclear arms.

Dr Moore-Gilbert was diplomatic­ally magnanimous on her release, ­expressing her affection for the Iranian people for whom she said: “I have nothing but respect, love and admiration …”

She described them as “warm-hearted, generous and brave” and said it was “with bittersweet feelings that I depart your country, despite the injustices which I have been subjected to”.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert has returned to Australia after her imprisonment.

The Melbourne University academic was invited to a conference in Iran in 2016 and arrested at the airport as she was leaving.

So much for the vaunted Islamic hospitality often cited in mosques around the world.

Prisoner swaps may achieve immediate rewards but, as the Israelis, who have on occasion released hundreds of convicted terrorists in return for a single Israeli corpse, find — they do not offer any guarantee that terror attacks on civilians will cease.

Dr Moore-Gilbert’s release also highlights the tragic confinement of another Australian being held by Islamist forces.

Dr Ken Elliott, 85, has now been held by a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb for ­almost five years.

Dr Elliott, a Western Australian, and his wife, Jocelyn, were seized in January, 2016. She was released soon after when the group said it did not wish to involve women in war.

Dr Elliott and his wife had been in Burkina Faso, bordering Mali, since 1972, operating a small hospital they had built to provide medical services to people in the region.

The elderly couple had been unsuccessfully trying to find someone with similar charitable goals to run their hospital for the past 15 years.

The French government managed a hostage swap for the release of a French charity worker and a Malian politician in October.

The local press reported that more than 100 suspected or convicted rebels and about 30 “jihadist prisoners” were freed in return for the release of former politician Soumaila Cisse, 70, and a French charity worker, Sophie ­Petronin, 75.

Dr Moore-Gilbert may have been fortunate to have been held by a nation rather than a jihadist band.

It is to be hoped as much diplomatic effort is going into securing the release of Dr Elliott.

As evil as Iran is, it is easier to deal with nations than nutjobs.