CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – A British-Australian academic detained by Iran on a espionage conviction aired in a television interview on Tuesday that she endured ‘psychological torture’ during her more than two years behind bars.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, 33, returned to Australia in November after serving 804 days of a ten-year sentence. She was released in exchange for the release of three Iranians detained in Thailand.
‘This is an extremely separate room designed to break you up. It’s psychological torture. You get completely insane. It’s so harmful. I would say I was experiencing physical pain due to the psychological trauma I had in that room. It’s a 2-by-2-meter box, ‘Moore-Gilbert told Sky News.
‘There were a few times in that early period that I felt broken. I felt like if I had to endure another day of this, you know, if I could, I would just kill myself. But of course I never tried and I never took that step, “she added.
Moore-Gilbert was a lecturer at the University of Melbourne in Middle Eastern studies when she was picked up at Tehran Airport when she wanted to leave the country after attending an academic conference in 2018. She was sent to the infamous Evin prison in Tehran, convicted of espionage and sentenced to 10 years. She vehemently denied the charges and maintained her innocence.