Iranians deny talks on jailed Aussie academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert

Iran’s Foreign Minister denies discussing the jail conditions of a Melbourne academic during a meeting with Marise Payne.

Detained academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert.

Iran’s Foreign Minister eschewed any discussion about the prison conditions of jailed Melbourne academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert during a meeting with Marise Payne, despite ongoing issues around her treatment in the country’s most notorious jail, ­according to an Iranian official.

Mohammad Javad Zarif met his Australian counterpart, Senator Payne, in India earlier this month and discussed the case of Dr Moore-Gilbert, who has been held by Iran since September 2018 on espionage charges.

A series of letters written by the University of Melbourne academic have been smuggled out of the notorious Evin prison, in which she detailed her suffering, rejected the accusations that she was a spy and her struggle to get phone call and visitation rights.

But Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday said her treatment was not discussed during the meeting, following a report in the Washington Post last week that suggested Mr Zarif said the harsh treatment of the Australian academic was a result of her being “such a difficult prisoner”.

“Any allegation or claim that FM (foreign minister Zarif) discussed the treatment, or attitude, of Ms Moore-Gilbert (in prison in Iran) with his Australian counterpart @MarisePayne is categorically false,” Iran foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Twitter.

In one of 10 recently released letters, Dr Moore-Gilbert wrote to a “Mr Ghaderi” in July and said her imprisonment “in this ­extremely restrictive detention ward” would see a deterioration in her already “gravely damaged” mental health.

The most recently dated letter, written on December 2, said she remained inside the same ward, and earlier letters spoke of Dr Moore-Gilbert being shown two different sentences — one of 13 months’ imprisonment and the other of 10 years — and of an ­effort to recruit her as a spy in ­exchange for her freedom.

According to Iranian state media reports following the meeting of the two foreign ministers in India, the pair discussed “bilateral issues, including consular affairs”.

But Senator Payne said Dr Moore-Gilbert’s case was raised during the discussion.

“We have been very, very ­focused on Dr Moore-Gilbert and the circumstances of her imprisonment in everything that we have done,” she told ABC radio at the time.

“We have been seeking a number of things … (including) her appropriate treatment in terms of her detention.

“This is not a detention that we support. We don’t accept the charges upon which she is convicted and now held. We’ve made that case to Iranian authorities and we continue to do so.”

The Australian has spoken to three people who were in direct contact with Dr Moore-Gilbert in the days before her detention in September 2018, and all believe she should be freed.

One of them attended the same Shia religious course as Dr Moore-Gilbert and was shocked by her imprisonment and the spying allegations.

The person, who did not want their name published, said that some of the Westerners who undertook the course in the Iran­ian city of Qom were “standing up for natural sciences and even human rights” during some ­sessions.

One “publicly attacked several mullahs that they are an insult to the world by denying history — he accused them of denying the Holocaust — and biology, Darwin’s theory of evolution”.

“Kylie was with him as he went to protest but whereas he was aggressive, she remained silent,” the person said, adding that she was surprised that of all the people in the group, it was Dr Moore-Gilbert who the Iranians targeted.

“The atmosphere was strange and tense the whole time … with (a) great many people acting too carefree, even in Qom.”