November 27, 2020
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian woman jailed by Iran as an Israeli spy, has been freed in a prisoner exchange after having been held just over two years. She was swapped for three Iranians convicted of terrorism in Thailand.
Iran said she had been exchanged for three Iranians “held abroad.” It gave no names. The term “held abroad” was a curious one, suggesting they were not held in Australia.
As of press deadline, the Australian government had not said anything about the release apart from announcing that Moore-Gilbert was back home.
Iranian news reports said the three men freed for the Australian woman had been detained “on baseless charges” related to US sanctions.
State television showed the three men arriving in Iran followed by Moore-Gilbert leaving the building and entering an airport van, headed for the airplane taking her home.
The faces of the three men were obscured by medical masks. However, one of the men was seated in a wheelchair and had both legs amputated.
That suggested the trio were jailed by Thailand for plotting a bombing in Bangkok in 2012. Their scheme fell apart when a bomb they were working on blew up in the house they had rented. The men fled. One man took some bombs with him. When he was cornered by police, he threw a bomb at them. The bomb is assumed to have hit an overhead wire and bounced back toward the bomber, exploding at his feet. One of his legs was blown off and the other so damaged that it had to be amputated.
The day after the trio arrived in Iran, the Thai government announced it had sent the trio to Iran. The Thais denied there was any prisoner exchange. They said the men were sent home under an agreement with Iran that allows Thais held in Iran and Iranians held in Thailand to be sent home to spend their remaining jail terms where they would be closer to family.
But Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi contradicted the Thais. He said the Foreign Ministry had spent more than a year working on a “trilateral” agreement that would swap the three Iranians in Thai prisons for the Australian woman. He said it was a good deal that allowed Iran to get three people while giving up only one.
He said the deal was approved by the Supreme National Security Council. He said Iran had worked out six exchanges in the past year, bringing home eight Iranians from the US, Australia, France and Thailand in exchange for just six foreigners.
The plane that flew the Iranian men from Bangkok to Tehran and the Australian woman from Tehran to Australia had a tail number that showed the plane was owned by the Australian firm Skytraders, which describes itself as a “principal provider of air services to government.”
From the comments by Thailand and Australia, it appeared they did not want the full story publicized and had agreed to suppress the fact that any exchange was underway. But why Araqchi then spoke out and spilled the beans was unknown.
Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning-Herald said Moore-Gilbert was detained on her second visit to Iran when they found out that she was living with an Israeli man.
The Fars news agency said Moore-Gilbert had been recruited as an Israeli spy and converted from Christianity to Judaism. It said Israel’s military intelligence service “forced” her to change her college major to Islamic and Middle Eastern studies.
Moore-Gilbert issued a brief statement after her return home that underscored her feelings of friendship for Iran continued. “I came to Iran as a friend and with friendly intentions and depart Iran with those sentiments not only still intact, but strengthened.”
According the The Independent of London, Moore-Gilbert is related to Julian Assange, the man who founded WikiLeaks. It said he sent a letter to Iran earlier this year appealing for her release.
The February 14, 2012, Bangkok bomb incident came the day after a bomb was found under the car of an Israeli diplomat in Tbilisi and a magmatic bomb was attached to an Israeli embassy car being driven through New Delhi. That second bomb exploded and injured the wife of an Israeli diplomat.
The three incidents were widely seen as an Iranian effort to respond to the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists in Tehran, which were presumed to have been organized by Israel.
The three men jailed in Thailand were Saeid Moradi, now 36, the man who lost his legs and was sentenced to life imprisonment, Mohammad Kharzei, 50, who was sentenced to 15 years, and Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, 38, whose phone contained the telephone number for the man accused by Indian police of being behind the bombing there.
The Australian freed, Moore-Gilbert, 33, taught Middle Eastern politics and Islamic studies at the University of Melbourne and went to Iran in September 2018 to attend a conference. She was arrested at the airport while preparing to fly back to Australia, tried in secret for espionage and sentenced to 10 years—the standard sentence for people arrested falsely for espionage. Those the regime believes are really spies are usually executed.
In letters smuggled out of Tehran’s Evin prison earlier this year, she said she had “never been a spy” and feared for her health. She said the Islamic Republic had tried to recruit her to be a spy while detaining her. “I am not a spy. I have never been a spy, and I have no interest to work for a spying organization in any country,” she wrote.
The last jailed foreigner to be freed by Iran was American Michael White of San Diego, California, who was allowed to return home five months ago.
There are currently 16 foreign nationals detained by the Islamic Republic. Most are in Evin Prison, while some have been freed on bail but not allowed to leave the country. All are Iranian-born dual nationals. Another four hold permanent resident status in another country. By nation, the breakdown of the 20 is: six from the United States, five from Britain, three from France, two from Germany, two from Austria, one from Canada and one from Sweden.
