Introduction
Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an Australian-British academic and expert on Islamic studies. Currently imprisoned in Iran for ten years under a charge of espionage, she was previously a lecturer in Islamic studies at the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute. In her research, "she has written extensively about revolutions and activism in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Shia Islam, Bahraini politics and its protest movements."
Life and career
Moore-Gilbert graduated from All Saints' College in Bathurst in 2005. She studied Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge and graduated with first class honours in 2013. In 2017, she obtained a PhD for a thesis entitledShiʿi opposition and authoritarian transition in contemporary Bahrain: the shifting political participation of a marginalised majority at the University of Melbourne in 2017. She is currently Melbourne Early Career Academic Fellow and Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Asia Institute of the University of Melbourne.
Detention in Iran
Iranian authorities arrested her in September 2018 and she was subsequently tried and sentenced to ten years in prison. The charges are not publicly known but they are believed to pertain to espionage. She is currently being held in Evin Prison, reportedly in solitary confinement. Iranian authorities tried to recruit her as a spyin exchange for her release, which she declined.