Hostage-taking: the strong suit of an isolated theocratic regime beset with weakness

The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday:

British-Australian academic Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert will need time to readjust to freedom and recover from unimaginable trauma, according to those who understand the notorious Iranian prison where she has spent the past two years. The 33-year-old Melbourne University lecturer was on Thursday flying home with Australian diplomats after a drawn-out, secretive government deal to secure her release. She spent more than 800 days in jail, accused of espionage by Tehran … Richard Ratcliffe, husband of detained British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, said some of his wife’s best friends in the prison were Moore-Gilbert’s cell mates, and they used to “tell stories of her spirit and resilience”.

The Australian, Thursday:

The head of Australia’s intelligence community, Nick Warner, led a secret year-long effort to ­secure the release of academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert in a prisoner swap deal … The Australian can reveal Mr Warner used back-channel contacts to negotiate with the Iranian regime, while Australia’s ambassador to Thailand, Allan McKinnon, lobbied Thai officials to release three Iranian terrorists as an ­exchange … The three terrorists, wearing leis and draped in Iranian flags, ­arrived back in their home country after being released by authorities in Thailand, where they were serving sentences for the attempted murder of Israeli diplomats.

The Age, Thursday:

Multiple senior government and diplomatic sources confirmed that Dr Moore-Gilbert was detained in Iran in 2018 after authorities found out her partner was Israeli. This led to Iranian authorities stopping Dr Moore-Gilbert at Tehran airport while she was leaving the country after attending an academic conference in 2018.

Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, Twitter, Friday:

For years, the Islamic Republic like a mafia cartel has taken innocent people — academics, tourists — hostage to use as a bargaining tool.

Former hostage at the US embassy in Tehran John Limbert, Atlantic Council, November 1 last year:

On November 4, the Islamic Republic will again “celebrate” the taking of the US embassy 40 years ago … The poisons spread by the events in Tehran four decades ago have yet to dissipate. Indeed, they are still toxic and still in the system. Just ask Baquer and Siamak Namazi, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Xiyue Wang and others whom the authorities in Tehran in their wisdom have imprisoned for years for no apparent reason, except, in the case of Princeton University historian Wang, for “spying” on the long dead. In 40 years the Islamic Republic has learned nothing. It has compounded its original mistakes and continued on the destructive path of hostage-taking that it first lurched into in the aftermath of a violent revolution. That path, a textbook case of unskilled diplomacy, wreaked havoc on both the nation and millions of individual Iranians … (The outcomes of hostage-taking have been) war, international isolation, dictatorship, violence, a damaged economy, and a flight of educated and skilled people.

Rashida Yosufzai, SBS News, Thursday:

Human rights advocates are concerned Iran and other countries may be encouraged to take Australians and other nationalities into arbitrary detention after the release of academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert in an apparent prisoner-swap exchange … (Human rights commentator Roya Boroumand) said Iran has a history of using hostages to secure the release of Iranian prisoners overseas. “In my experience, they (Iran) have often succeeded,” she said. Iran has never had to face consequences for these actions, she added. “Countries are happy to end the problem and just move on. And as a result, you know, there is no consequence.”