the times | Thursday November 26 2020 2GM 19
News
wish her luck for the healing process
ahead. She has a lot of friends in Evin
prison very happy for her tonight.”
Kate Allen, director at Amnesty
International UK, said: “We were
always extremely concerned that Kylie
was imprisoned solely for exercising
her right to freedom of expression —
including through her work as an aca-
demic — and it’s an enormous relief to
hear of her release. There may now be
renewed grounds for hoping that UK-
Iranian dual-nationals like Nazanin
Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh
Ashoori will also be released.”
In the television footage shown yes-
terday Dr Moore-Gilbert can be seen
dressed in a headscarf and surgical
mask. Three men are welcomed in,A British-Australian academic held by
Iran on spurious espionage charges has
been freed as part of a prisoner swap.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert was arrested
and charged in September 2018 after
attending a conference in the city of
Qom.
Marise Payne, the Australian foreign
minister, confirmed last night that Dr
Moore-Gilbert had been released and
would soon be reunited with her family.
Sources said that she had flown to
Doha and would fly on to Australia.
Ms Payne said: “The Australian gov-
ernment has consistently rejected the
grounds on which the Iranian govern-
ment arrested, detained and convicted
Dr Moore-Gilbert.”
In a statement, Dr Moore-Gilbert
thanked those involved in her
release, adding: “I have nothing
but respect, love and admiration
for the great nation of Iran and
its warm-hearted, generous and
brave people. I came to Iran as a
friend and with friendly inten-
tions and depart Iran with
those sentiments not
only still intact, but
strengthened.”
Iranian state tele-
vision reported
that Dr Moore-
Gilbert was freed in
an exchange for
three Iranian citi-
zens believed to
have been held in
Thailand.
Dr Moore-Gil-
bert, 33, a lecturer
Academic
freed after
two years in
Iranian jail
at the University of Melbourne, passed
her 800th day in detention last week,
and friends and colleagues held a vigil
and rally for her outside St Paul’s Cath-
edral in Melbourne.
During her time in prison the Iranian
authorities tried to recruit her as a spy
but she declined, according to letters
smuggled out of Evin prison. She also
escaped the guards on one occasion,
and negotiators had to be brought in to
bring her down from the prison roof. In
retaliation for helping other prisoners
she was beaten and drugged by guards.
In July she was moved to Qarchak, a
notorious desert facility with no fresh
running water and an active corona-
virus outbreak. Then last month she
vanished from the jail, before being
returned to Evin a few days later. It is
thought that she was held briefly in a
safehouse run by the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Free Kylie, a campaign group
of her friends and colleagues,
said they were “over the moon”
that she was coming home.
Richard Ratcliffe, whose
British-Iranian wife, Nazanin
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, has been
detained in Iran since 2016,
said: “It is really great
news for Kylie and her
family, and long over-
due. What she has had
to endure is uncon-
scionable and one day
there should be
accountability for it.
But that is not today.
“Today is a day for
being thankful for
her news and hope-
ful for ours, and toEmma Yeomans, Catherine Philp
Richard Spencer
Dr Moore-Gilbert
nvolved in her
have nothing
nd admiration
n of Iran and
generous and
me to Iran as a
iendly inten-
an with
not
bute-
d- n
r
safehouse run
Revolutionar
Free Kylie
of her frien
said they w
that she wa
Richard
British-Ira
Zaghari-R
detained
said:
news
famil
due.
to
scio
the
ac
Bbdraped in flags, and handed garlands. A
separate shot then shows her being
escorted to a minivan with her bags.
One of the three men released in
exchange is believed to be Saeid Mora-
di, who was jailed in Thailand in con-
nection with a failed bomb plot against
diplomats in 2012. The two other men
were detained after homemade explo-
sives destroyed the roof of the house in
which they had stayed.
A Swedish-Iranian scientist impris-
oned for spying has said that he fears he
may be hanged imminently. The wife of
Ahmadreza Djalali, a lecturer at the
Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, said
he had told her he had been moved to
solitary confinement in Evin prison,
often a precursor to execution.Kylie Moore-Gilbert was arrested in 2018 after a conference in Qom. While in jail
she was beaten and drugged. Iran tried to recruit her as a spy but she declinedAPFor mer Eton
master guilty of
abusing pupils
John Simpson Crime CorrespondentA former Eton teacher has been found
guilty of eight charges of sexual activity
with children.
Matthew Mowbray, 49, who taught
at the school for more than 20 years,
entered rooms at night on the pretext of
discussing schoolwork and groped four
boys in their beds, Reading crown court
was told. He was cleared of a ninth
charge.
Mowbray, who had admitted secretly
filming a boy getting dressed and
downloading indecent images of child-
ren, was also convicted of child sex
offences against a girl elsewhere.
He taught geography at Eton for at
least 20 years and is thought to have
been a member of staff when Prince
William and Prince Harry attended.
Mowbray, of Locks Heath, Hamp-
shire, was a photographer who shot
portraits of pupils and took photos of
school sports events, the court was told.
One of his images was used in a pam-
phlet aimed at persuading Old Etoni-
ans to leave legacies to the school.
He will be sentenced later but Judge
Heather Norton, QC, told him he
would be sent to prison, adding: “You
should prepare yourself for that.”Child hospital
sex charges
Charlie ParkerA porter at Great Ormond Street Hos-
pital in London has been charged with
84 child sex offences. It is understood
that Paul Farrell, 55, from Camden,
north London, had worked at the child-
ren’s hospital since 1985 but was sacked
in January.
The charges include the attempted
rape of a child, paying for the sexual
services of a child and sexually assault-
ing a child. They relate to seven victims
and the alleged offences were commit-
ted between 1985 and 2018.
The hospital told The Sun: “We can
confirm that the individual who has
been charged was dismissed.” Mr Far-
rell is due to appear at Wood Green
crown court tomorrow.