Iran Denies Ministerial Talks on Australian Inmate
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi dismissed reports that the foreign ministers of Iran and Australia have discussed the status of an Australian woman, named Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who has been imprisoned in the Islamic Republic.
“Any allegation or claim that FM @JZarif discussed the treatment, or attitude, of Ms. Moore-Gilbert (in prison in Iran) with his Australian counterpart @MarisePayne is categorically false,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a post on his Twitter account on Friday night.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a Melbourne University lecturer, has been in detention in Iran since October 2018.
In October 2019, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne described her situation as “very complex”.
In December 2019, Mousavi said Moore-Gilbert had been arrested on a charge of violating Iran’s national security and “the competent court has also issued the appropriate ruling by observing all relevant laws.”
“Experience has shown that the Islamic Republic of Iran would not give in to political and smear campaigns, and this Australian citizen is serving her sentence while enjoying all legal rights, like any other convict with a judicial verdict,” the spokesman had said.
“Public opinion would not forget the Australian government’s treatment of (Iranian national) Ms. Negar Qods Kani who was kept in custody without committing any crime and was treated in an inhuman manner for 28 months. Among the examples of treatment of Ms. Qods Kani that were against the law and human rights were leaving her to have a delivery in prison, separating the infant from the mother, turning down a request for house arrest in lieu of imprisonment, barring her from seeing her baby regularly, and violating consular commitments by extraditing her to the US.”
