Released from Iranian prison after 804 days, Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert delivers a message to Iran

After attending a conference in Tehran in 2018, Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert was arrested under false espionage charges and sent to both IRGC and public Iranian prisons. This is her story.

Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert journeyed to Iran in 2018 for an academic conference and returned home 804 days later following a ten-year espionage sentence, time in Evin and Qarchak prisons, and a prisoner exchange. In her discussion on the JPost podcast, the Australian-British scholar describes how the Revolutionary Guard reduced her to prisoner number 97029 and attempted to trade her freedom for work as an agent. She declined. The interview is notable because a woman subjected to severe treatment by the Iranian state speaks with warmth about ordinary Iranians and clarity about the regime that jailed her.

Much of the talk addresses the divide between systems. Moore-Gilbert outlines a prison structure where the IRGC maintains close watch over valuable captives while leaving inmates in public wards to fend for themselves. She explains blackmail and recruitment methods used to turn prisoners into informants, recalls cellmates she saw as sisters, and names environmental activist Sepideh Kashani, who she says has been returned to prison. Her account of Iranian women, from anti-hijab protests after the 1979 revolution to recent uprisings, stands out as especially moving. She states she simply refused to break during her years inside, and that same resolve appears in her words about women who remain there.

The interview turns to Western policy. Moore-Gilbert argues that the regime believes it has succeeded, that harder-line figures are rising, and that easing economic pressure now would give Tehran relief when it is most exposed. She is cautious about concessions and realistic about risks for activists inside the country, where her advice is to stay out of sight for now. Her direct experience of Iran's prisons and politics offers a rare and candid view.