In comments to CNN affiliate Sky News Australia on Tuesday, Kylie Moore-Gilbert also criticized the Australian government’s attempts to use “quiet diplomacy” to release her.
Moore-Gilbert told Sky News that the first room she was in was a “two-meter-by-two-meter box” without a toilet.
“I would say (it was) the extreme isolation room, designed to break you. It’s a psychological torture,” she said. “There were a few times in that early period when I felt broken, I felt if I had to endure another day of this, to know, if I could, I would commit suicide.”
She said she was once beaten by prison guards and forcibly injected with a tranquilizer against her will.
Moore-Gilbert said the allegations that she was a spy were “crazy.” “There is no evidence that I would be a spy for any country. Not even the revolutionary guards could find out in which country I was supposed to be a spy,” she said in an interview.
She said while detained, Iranian authorities also told her they would release her if she agreed to spy for them.
“I don’t think they were particularly interested in spying on Australia, they were more interested in me, using my academic status as a cover story and traveling to other Middle Eastern countries and maybe European countries, maybe America, I don’t know,” she said. said.
Criticism of “quiet diplomacy”
During her interview with Sky News, Moore-Gilbert said she found out during incarceration that the media knew about her situation, but had initially been asked by the Australian government not to report the story.
“The government-led line was that trying to find a diplomatic solution behind the scenes with Iran was the best approach to get me out,” she said. “And the media would complicate things and could make Iran angry … and make things worse for me.”
Moore-Gilbert said she was grateful to the Australian government for helping to free her from prison. However, she was not convinced that the so-called quiet diplomacy was the right approach, as her situation in prison improved after her name was revealed to the press in 2019.
“I have noticed that much more attention has been paid to my health and conditions, so I have certainly seen benefits from this. And I am not convinced that the quiet arguments of diplomacy accumulate in such a case, although each case is different. she said. said.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was impressed by Moore-Gilbert’s courage and bravery, but there were events behind the scenes of her release that she was unaware of.
“I am aware of these issues and I have been directly involved in many of the decisions, in fact, all the decisions that eventually came to ensure her release,” he said.
“And I know Kylie Moore-Gilbert really appreciates that.”
In a statement to CNN, a spokesman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they would not talk about “the circumstances of his release”.
“Each consular case is, by its nature, complex and is considered individual, with a strategy developed on a case-by-case basis,” the spokesman said.