Horror toll of years in Iran jail

AUSTRALIAN academic Kylie Moore-gilbert will never have a normal life following her release from an Iranian prison, journalist Peter Greste has warned.

Mr Greste was imprisoned in Egypt for more than two years with two other Al Jazeera journalists before he was deported following a retrial.

Speaking on Sunrise, Mr Greste said you couldn’t experience something as traumatising as an extended period of imprisonment and simply pick up where you left off.

“It’s going to be impossible, there is no normal after something like this,” Mr Greste said.

“You have changed, the people around you have changed, the world has changed, and it’s just impossible to go back to the life you had before.”

Mr Greste said he spent a lot of time grieving the life he couldn’t get back before realising he had to build a life moving forward.

“That is on top of all of the really dark, complex emotions that she is going to be going through as she processes the really traumatic time she has spent inside that Iranian cell,” he said. “She made the same distinction I made, that the people of the nation weren’t the same as the individuals who were responsible for putting me in prison and the institutions that put me there. I think that’s a very healthy response to what has happened.”

Dr Moore-gilbert ( pictured) was released from an Iranian prison this week after spending more than two years behind bars over allegations of espionage.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to confirm that her release was part of a prisoner swap involving up to three Iranian men.