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British-Australian academic held in Iranian prison reportedly attempts suicide

Kylie Moore-Gilbert is among the many foreigners held in Iran's notorious Evin prison on espionage charges.

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An undated image of Kylie Moore-Gilbert. — Twitter

An Australian-British academic has reportedly tried to kill herself multiple times amid “unbearable” conditions in Iran’s most notorious prison. 

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne, is currently serving a 10-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin prison for espionage. 

In September 2018, she traveled to Iran to conduct research interviews and attend an academic conference on Islam in the city of Qom. While at the airport in Tehran, she was arrested by the intelligence wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). 

She reportedly spent months at a time in solitary confinement in a 2 by 3 meter (6½ by 10 foot) cell, and has participated in a hunger strike with jailed French-Iranian anthropologist Fariba Adelkhah.  

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