Iranian authorities detained British-Australian university lecturer Kylie Moore-Gilbert after discovering she was in a relationship with an Israeli, which fuelled baseless suspicions that she was a spy, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Friday, citing multiple diplomatic and government sources.
The newspaper said that once Iran found out about her partner, officials moved to arrest Moore-Gilbert at Tehran airport in September 2018. The Cambridge-educated expert in Middle East politics was sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage, allegations she has always denied.
Moore-Gilbert was released on Thursday after spending two years in prison, as three Iranians who were serving long sentences in Thailand for a failed 2012 bomb plot were flown home.
On Thursday, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison repeatedly declined to confirm her release was part of a complicated prisoner…
