It matters not only that you survive, but how you survive
Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert is the author of the best-selling memoir The Uncaged Sky, which details the 804 days she spent as a political prisoner in Iran.
An expert in Middle East history and politics, in 2018, Kylie travelled to Iran to take part in an academic conference, only to be arrested and convicted of espionage in a shadowy trial presided over by the country’s most notorious judge.
Following her release in 2020 in a prisoner swap deal, Kylie has become a vocal human rights advocate and has campaigned in support of other victims of arbitrary detention around the world. In 2023, she founded The Australian Wrongful and Arbitrary Detention Alliance, which advocates for Australian victims of unjust detention and their families.
Kylie regularly appears in the media as an analyst and commentator, and has featured on programs including ABC Q&A, 7:30, 60 Minutes and BBC Hardtalk. Kylie has been profiled in The New York Times, The BBC, The ABC, The Guardian, Good Weekend and Sky News and has written for outlets including The Atlantic, CNN, the Australian Financial Review and The Saturday Paper. She currently writes a monthly column for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.
Kylie's memoir Uncaged Sky has been published in eight countries and five languages and was nominated for The Age Book of the Year and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award in 2022.
Talking Points
The Uncaged Sky
On 12 September 2018 Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert was arrested at Tehran Airport by Iran's feared Islamic Revolutionary Guards, following a brief visit to the country for an academic conference. Ultimately convicted of espionage in a shadowy trial presided over by Iran's most notorious judge, Kylie was sentenced to 10 years in prison.The Uncaged Sky
Kylie's presentation draws on her gripping account of her harrowing ordeal incarcerated for 804 days in Tehran's Evin and Qarchak prisons. Held in a filthy solitary confinement cell for months, and subjected to relentless interrogation, Kylie was pushed to the limits of her endurance by extreme physical and psychological deprivation. Cut off from the outside world, Kylie realised she alone had the power to change the dynamics of her incarceration. Kylie orchestrated multiple hunger strikes, smuggled letters to the media, co-ordinated protests with other prisoners and made a daring escape attempt, all of which led to her transfer to the isolated desert prison, Qarchak, to live among convicted criminals. Kylie candidly shares the lengths to which she went to survive and fight back, and reveals the universal lessons she learnt from her ordeal about hope, courage and resilience.
On November 25, 2020, after more than two years of struggle, Kylie was finally released in a high stakes three-nation prisoner swap deal orchestrated by the Australian government, laying bare the complex game of global politics in which she had become a valuable pawn.
Shared with extraordinary insight, vivid immediacy and vulnerability, Kylie's story is a powerful meditation on hope, solidarity and what it means to be free.
Video
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Australian woman survives 804 days of prison in Iran
Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert shares her incredible story of survival after being sentenced to 10 years in an Iranian jail on espionage charges she still denies to this day. This is the story of how Kylie escaped her hell and refused to be broken during her 804 days of prison, which included months of solitary confinement. Sky News Australia presents the world’s first interview with Kylie and brings you a special investigation detailing her struggle.Kylie was excellent, personable and inspiring. She was the perfect way to wrap up our conference. ... keep reading ACC Australia
