Kylie Moore-Gilbert to speak at WIZO Gala

Kylie Moore-Gilbert has become a fierce advocate for hostages worldwide following her wrongful detention for 804 days in Tehran’s notorious Evin and Gharchak prisons.

In her memoir “The Uncaged Sky”, she shared the trauma of being held captive, including solitary confinement and psychological torture. Iranian authorities offered to free her if she agreed to act as a spy, but she refused. She was ultimately freed in November 2020 in a prisoner-swap deal.

In those dark days sentenced to 10-years on the false change of espionage, she likely could not have imagined that today she would be free living in Australia and expecting her second child. “When I was in prison, I knew that I wanted to have a family. I knew that I wanted to have children, and I was very worried that I would that decision would be taken out of my hands, because if I stayed there 10 years, I’d be too old at the time I got out. So, it was a priority for me when I came out of prison to try and start a family. I’m really lucky that that I was able to do that,” she shared.

As a research fellow at Macquarie University, Moore-Gilbert is an academic expert on wrongful detention and hostage diplomacy, she said that many are not aware that it exists and that it is increasing, “Not only are innocent citizens of largely Western democracies getting taken hostage for absolutely no reason other than their nationality or some other lever that the arresting state wants to pull, but it’s happening more and more frequently. I think it’s because of the breakdown in the rules-based order… where you’ve got states like Russia, China, Iran and Venezuela really challenging the system of international norms that has developed post World War Two.”

Moore-Gilbert co-founded the Australian Wrongful and Arbitrary Detention Alliance in 2023, along with former detainees Cheng Lei and Sean Turnell, the organisation aims to provide advice and support to the families of current Australian victims of wrongful and arbitrary detention.  She said Iran appears to have increased its wrongful detentions and hostage diplomacy in the aftermath of the 12-day war with Israel, “They have arrested several foreign citizens in very dubious circumstances who have almost certainly become hostages, including two Jewish Americans,” she remarked.