Academic in Iranian prison goes on hunger strike after failed appeal
A British-australian academic held in Iran’s most notorious prison has gone on a hunger strike after losing an appeal against her 10-year sentence.
Kylie Moore-gilbert, a Cambridge University graduate and specialist in Middle East politics at the University of Melbourne, said in a letter dated Dec 24 that she had begun refusing food and water at Evin prison in Tehran.
She was reportedly taking a course in Islamic studies in the holy city of Qom last year when she was arrested. The charges are not publicly known but it is believed they relate to espionage, as 10-year sentences are regularly handed down for spying in Iran. She has been held at Evin for 15 months.
Ms Moore-gilbert’s open letter is cosigned by Fariba Adelkhah, a FrancoIranian researcher held with her, and was sent to the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). In it, Ms Mooregilbert tells Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister: “Please, I beg of you to do whatever it takes to get me out. My physical and mental health continues to deteriorate.”
She alleges that she has been denied contact with her family for nine months except for a three-minute phone call to her father, granted after she “took desperate measures which put my own life at risk”. She says she has been subjected to “psychological torture” and violations of basic human rights.
Ms Moore-gilbert is held next to Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe, the Britishiranian charity worker also accused of espionage. The family of Ms Zaghariratcliffe, who has herself been on hunger strike multiple times, said she was supporting Ms Moore-gilbert.