Kylie Moore-Gilbert has lost her Iranian jail appeal

A Melbourne academic jailed in Iran for espionage must serve out her 10-year sentence, the foreign ministry in Tehran says.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert is accused of ‘spying for another country’. Picture: AFP

A Melbourne academic jailed in Iran for espionage must serve out her 10-year sentence, the foreign ministry in Tehran says, stressing it will not submit to “propaganda”.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a University of Melbourne Middle East expert, reportedly began a hunger strike in Tehran’s Evin prison on Tuesday after losing an appeal against her sentence.

Australia expressed “deep concern” over the matter, with Foreign Minister Marise Payne calling for her to be treated “fairly, humanely and in accordance with international norms”.

Foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said: “Iran will not submit to political games and propaganda” in response to “certain reports” in Australian media.

Dr Moore-Gilbert, “like any other individual with a sentence, will serve her time while enjoying all legal rights”, he added.

Her arrest was confirmed in September when she was accused of “spying for another country”, but her family said at the time that she had been detained for months ­before that.

Dr Moore-Gilbert and detained Iranian-French academic Fariba Adelkhah began an indefinite hunger strike on Christmas Eve. Ms Adelkhah’s arrest over “espionage” was confirmed in July. She is a specialist in shia Islam and a research director at the Paris ­Institute of Political Studies, also known as Sciences Po.

Mr Mousavi said Dr Moore-Gilbert was detained for “violating Iran’s national security” and her sentence had been issued in accordance with “all the related laws”. In a recent letter signed by Dr Moore-Gilbert and Ms Adelkhah and released by Sciences Po, the two women announced their hunger strike.

“We will strike on behalf of all academics and researchers across Iran and the Middle East who, like us, have been unjustly imprisoned on trumped-up charges,” they said. “We have been in the custody of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for an extremely long ­period, Kylie Moore-Gilbert for over 15 months, and Fariba Adelkhah for over 7 months. We have been subjected to psychological torture and numerous violations of our basic human rights.”

But Mr Mousavi stuck a ­defiant tone, saying Iran would not forget Australia’s “illegal” treatment of Negar Ghodskani, an Iranian woman arrested in 2017 over violating US sanctions on Iran. Ghodskani gave birth in Australian custody before being extradited to the US.

She was sentenced in the US for violating sanctions against Iran but was released in September and returned home.

Australian video bloggers Jolie King and Mark Firkin, arrested in July for flying a drone in Iran, were ­released in October.

Dr Moore-Gilbert is in Evin prison where the feared Revolutionary Guard keeps its political prisoners. A source said Dr Moore-Gilbert was getting “desperate”.

Scott Morrison said this week: “She’s been receiving consular ­assistance and had a visit recently. But I can assure you, and I know the extent that Kylie knows, and we’re doing everything that we can do to bring her home.”

AFP