Iran releases Kylie Moore-Gilbert, British-Australian academic, in exchange for 3 prisoners - Fox News

Moore-Gilbert, 33, one of the most high-profile Western prisoners held by the country, was imprisoned for more than two years on spying charges. .

British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert is seen in Tehran, Iran on Nov.

“I have nothing but respect, love, and admiration for the great nation of Iran and its warm-hearted, generous and brave people,” Moore-Gilbert said, according to The Guardian.

A Melbourne University lecturer on Middle Eastern studies, Moore-Gilbert was picked up at the Tehran airport and arrested as she tried to leave the country after attending an academic conference in 2018. She was convicted in a secret trial and sentenced to 10 years in jail for crimes she said she never committed.

When I leave Iran, I want to be a free woman and live a free life, not under the shadow of extortion and threats," she continued. 

The Iranians freed in exchange for Moore-Gilbert were described by Iran state TV as “economic activists” who had been imprisoned for trying to bypass sanctions on the country, although the report failed to elaborate further. They wore Iranian flags draped over their shoulders and outfits apparently designed to conceal their identities

She was one of several Westerners held in Iran on widely criticized espionage charges that activists and U.N

BRITISH-AUSTRALIAN WOMAN JAILED IN TEHRAN MOVED TO IRAN'S NOTORIOUS AND REMOTE QARCHAK PRISON