Iran targets freed academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert in propaganda war

Iran media releases photos of Kylie Moore-Gilbert and her husband, claims they’re both spies in propaganda campaign.

The video purports to show Kylie Moore-Gilbert and her husband Ruslan Hodorov. Picture: Twitter.

Freed Australian hostage Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been the target of a mass Iranian propaganda campaign following her release, with Iranian media releasing personal photos of her and her husband Ruslan Hodorov and claiming both are spies.

Who is #KylieMooreGilbert?
Beyond Propaganda & Disinformation
Part I
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— IATLA (@IATLAnet) November 27, 2020

The Herald Sun reports on Monday that three propaganda videos posted online since Dr Moore-Gilbert’s release from prison in Iran claim to show her in army greens at an Israeli training camp and show both photos of her Middle East travels and her wedding to Mr Hodorov – an Israeli of Russian origin.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert (2nd Left) in what the video claims to be army greens. Picture: Twitter.

“After being recruited by the Israeli spying services, she succeeded in being accepted at the University of Cambridge in England,” one of the Farsi-language videos claims.

“He was also an officer in the Israeli army. Ruslan, Kylie’s husband, after a while started working in a spying ­establishment under the cover of an Australian company belonging to one of the members of the (Israeli) internal security services.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert and her husband in the video. Picture: Twitter.

“Ruslan, through his manager, introduced Kylie to one of the officers in Mossad (the Israeli spy agency) by the name of Zoohar. He (Ruslan) sends an email to Kylie and mentions that she will meet with this security officer and discuss issues related to the Middle East.”

Kylie Moore-Gilbert in what appears to be her wedding in the video. Picture: Twitter.

The videos claim to show several photos of Mr Hodorov including his personal I.D.

Dr Moore-Gilbert has repeatedly denied she was a spy in court and in letters from Evin Prison in Iran.

“There is no hope for a fair trial. Indeed, a guilty verdict has been predetermined in a legal system wholly controlled by the Revolutionary Guards,” she wrote in one prison letter.

“I came to Iran as an academic researcher and consider myself a political prisoner.”

The Iranian videos claim to show Dr Moore-Gilbert at Israel’s Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Picture: Twitter.

The Iranian videos claim to show Dr Moore-Gilbert at Israel’s Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and photos taken in 2013 in an army training centre situated in the Israeli city of Haifa.

“Kylie received army training in this centre and in that year she was present in the office of the Central Studies known as Counter-Terrorism, which was connected to Herzliya,” the Iranian propaganda video claimed.

“Herzliya is the name of an institute in Israel which, under the cover of a private research college, carries out many spying activities.”

Dr Moore-Gilbert landed in Canberra last week after a prisoner swap arranged between Australia, Iran and Thailand.

The federal government has repeatedly said it did not accept the espionage charges levelled against the Melbourne academic.

The Australian approached the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for comment.