LONDON: A British-Australian academic has been moved from Iran’s notorious Qarchak prison, though details of her new whereabouts have not been released.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was educated at the universities of Cambridge and Melbourne, was arrested in September 2018 and convicted of spying in a secret trial.
She was given a 10-year sentence. Her friends and family have been campaigning for her release since her arrest in Tehran.
This latest development follows the prison authorities moving her and 15 other political prisoners to the Mother’s Ward in Qarchak prison last week.
The prison has struggled to contain the coronavirus pandemic, with several inmates given temporary release earlier this year amid Iran’s beleaguered battle against the disease.
Moore-Gilbert, who was traveling on an Australian passport when she was arrested, spent the first 22 months of her imprisonment in Tehran’s Evin prison — which included long bouts of solitary confinement — before she was moved out of Tehran to Qarchak in the desert.
Qarchak is considered one of the most inhospitable women’s prisons in Iran, notorious for being a hive of extrajudicial killings, torture and human rights abuses.
Reports from Qarchak have revealed the extent of Moore-Gilbert’s plight, with smuggled letters and rare phone calls detailing how she has struggled with hopelessness, depression and poor nutrition.
Elaine Pearson, Australia director of Human Rights Watch, said Moore-Gilbert “has been detained for more than two years now, and she has endured very difficult conditions including extreme isolation. The Australian government should press forcefully and consistently for Kylie’s release and safe return to Australia.”
British-Australian academic moved out of infamous Iranian jail
https://arab.news/6avkr
British-Australian academic moved out of infamous Iranian jail
- Human Rights Watch: Moore-Gilbert has “endured very difficult conditions including extreme isolation”
- Her friends and family have been campaigning for her release since her arrest in Tehran
Siege on Syria’s Kobani ‘must be lifted immediately’: Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM party
- The situation in Kobani had escalated from a crisis into a “deadly catastrophe,” DEM said
- “Both the military and humanitarian siege on Kobani must be lifted as soon as possible,” said Hatimogullari
ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM party on Saturday called for the blockade on the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani in northern Syria to be lifted immediately, warning of a “humanitarian tragedy.”
The situation in Kobani had escalated from a crisis into a “deadly catastrophe,” DEM said after sending a delegation to visit northeastern Syria which over the past week has been targeted by a major Syrian military offensive.
The Kurdish-held city, which is also known as Ain Al-Arab, is surrounded by the Turkish border to its north and government forces on all sides.
It lies around 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the Kurds’ stronghold in Syria’s far northeast.
“Both the military and humanitarian siege on Kobani must be lifted as soon as possible,” said DEM co-chair Tulay Hatimogullari.
Kurdish forces have withdrawn from areas near Kobani over the past week following pressure from the Syrian military as President Ahmed Al-Sharaa seeks to extend his control across the country.
As the military offensive advanced, residents of surrounding villages flooded into Kobani, where they were now stranded, Hatimogullari said.
“Electricity has been cut off, the Internet is cut off, water is cut off. This is a great humanitarian tragedy,” she told a news conference.
“Guarantor countries.. must urgently carry out their responsibilities to lift the siege on northern and eastern Syria,” she said referring to the US and western allies who for years have thrown their support behind the Kurdish-dominated SDF forces which have been forced out of the area.
