The taste of freedom: Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert – who spent two years in a hellhole Iranian jail only to find out her husband was having an affair when she got home – enjoys a sausage sizzle at Bunnings
Kylie Moore-Gilbert was imprisoned in Iran for more than two years before being freed in a prisoner-swap deal brokered by Australia’s top spy.
And the 35-year-old academic looked happy to be home on Sunday as she visited a Bunnings Warehouse in Melbourne.
Moore-Gilbert, who spent 804 days behind bars before her release in November 2020, wore a striped shirt and black jeans as she walked through the hardware store.
The taste of freedom: Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who spent more than two years in an Iranian prison on trumped-up espionage charges, looked happy to be home on Sunday as she visited a Bunnings Warehouse in Melbourne
She completed her look with black sneakers and a matching-coloured bag, and swept her brunette hair into a ponytail.
After buying some household supplies, the Islamic studies lecturer grabbed a snag from the sausage sizzle outside the store.
Moore-Gilbert was imprisoned in Iran from September 2018 to November 2020 after the country’s government falsely accused her of being a ‘Zionist spy’.
Ensemble: Moore-Gilbert, who spent 804 days behind bars before her release in November 2020, wore a striped shirt and black jeans as she walked through the hardware store
Laid-back: She completed her look with black sneakers and a matching-coloured bag, and swept her brunette hair into a ponytail
The prisoner-swap deal that secured her release – and also saw the release of three Iranians held in Thailand – was brokered by the former boss of Australia’s spy agencies ASIS and the Office of National Intelligence, Nick Warner.
Moore-Gilbert was given a 10-year sentence for espionage but always denied the charges, which reportedly stemmed from the Iranian authorities’ belief she was a spy for Israel because of her relationship with her then-husband, an Israeli citizen.
The Australian government rejected the charges as ‘baseless and politically motivated’.
Once she arrived home, she discovered her husband Ruslan Hodorov had moved on with another woman – her former colleague at the University of Melbourne.
Lunch on the go: After buying some household supplies, the Islamic studies lecturer grabbed a snag from the sausage sizzle outside the store
Freedom: Moore-Gilbert was imprisoned in Iran from September 2018 to November 2020 after the country’s government falsely accused her of being a ‘Zionist spy’
Her mother broke the news while she was in quarantine that her Russian-Israeli husband was having an affair with Dr Kylie Baxter, her former PhD supervisor.
Their relationship began while Moore-Gilbert was held captive in two of Iran’s most notorious prisons.
An ‘upset and disappointed’ Moore-Gilbert filed for divorce shortly after returning home, and announced it was finalised on her Twitter account in April last year.
Deal: The prisoner-swap deal that secured her release – and also saw the release of three Iranians held in Thailand – was brokered by the former boss of Australia’s spy agencies ASIS and the Office of National Intelligence, Nick Warner
Falsely accused: Moore-Gilbert was given a 10-year sentence for espionage but always denied the charges, which reportedly stemmed from the Iranian authorities’ belief she was a spy for Israel because of her relationship with her then-husband, an Israeli citizen
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