Australian-British lecturer freed in Iran prisoner swap

An Australian-British academic jailed for spying by Iran has been released after two "traumatic" years behind bars, in a swap for three Iranians linked to a botched Bangkok bomb plot. Middle East scholar Kylie Moore-Gilbert said yesterday that departing Iran was "bittersweet" despite "injustices" endured during more than 800 days detained in the country's toughest prisons. "I came to Iran as a friend and with friendly intentions," she said, praising the "warm-hearted, generous and brave" Iranian people, despite what she called a "long and traumatic ordeal". The 33-year-old was arrested by Iran's hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 2018, after attending an academic conference in the holy city of Qom in central Iran.