Kylie Moore-Gilbert thanks supporters after Iran prison release: 'My freedom is your victory'

Kylie Moore-Gilbert thanks supporters after Iran prison release: ‘My freedom is your victory’

Freed academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has paid tribute to her family, friends and colleagues who campaigned for her release while she was held in Iranian prisons for more than two years.

After 804 days in prison on espionage charges widely dismissed as baseless, Moore-Gilbert was released last week in a complex and dramatic prisoner swap for three convicted Iranian bombers in prison in Thailand.

Through the Twitter account of a campaign group, Moore-Gilbert posted: “I honestly do not know where to start or how I can ever thank you for all of your incredible efforts to campaign for my release.

“I am totally blown away by everything you have done for me, I honestly have no words to express the depth of my gratitude and how touched I am. I can’t tell you how heartening it was to hear that my friends and colleagues were speaking up and hadn’t forgotten me, it gave me so much hope and strength to endure what had seemed like a never-ending, unrelenting nightmare.

“My freedom truly is your victory. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!”

Moore-Gilbert also posted a photo of herself at Doha Airport during her return to Australia. She was flown out of Tehran on a government jet and is currently in quarantine, having arrived in Canberra late on Friday.

A dual UK-Australian citizen, Moore-Gilbert, who is a lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne, was arrested in Tehran in September 2018 as she sought to leave the country after attending an academic conference in Qom.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert thanks supporters after Iran prison release: ‘My freedom is your victory’