An Australian academic whose husband had an affair while she was imprisoned in Iran for more than two years has welcomed a baby girl with her new partner.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert was kidnapped by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in 2018 as she tried to leave the country through Tehran airport.
She was subsequently held in two of Iran’s most hellish prisons on false espionage charges, in what she said was a classic case of hostage diplomacy.
When she was finally released and allowed to return to Australia in November 2020, Dr Moore-Gilbert found that the life she had built with her then husband, Ruslan Hodorov, was gone forever.
While Dr. Moore-Gilbert was suffering some of the worst conditions any human could face, Mr. Hodorov had begun a new relationship with her university colleague and PhD supervisor, Kylie Baxter.
In an interview aired on ABC’s Australian Story on Monday, Dr. Moore-Gilbert is the latest addition to her family and revealed she met her new partner, presenter and comedian Sami Shah, through a dating app.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert (pictured with partner Sami Shah and their two daughters) was held in Iranian prison for 804 days
Dr. Moore-Gilbert (pictured during her captivity) was accused of being a spy for Israel
She had only recently returned to Australia and was still reeling from her public divorce, while Mr Shah was coming to terms with the loss of his job as a radio presenter and the collapse of his second marriage when the couple met.
Now, some three years later, the couple has become a beautiful family of four with the birth of their little girl earlier this year.
News of the birth comes months after Dr. Moore-Gilbert revealed she was pregnant in April.
“For a long time, Kylie Moore-Gilbert was this academic who goes to Iran, ends up in prison for two years, comes back and then ends up lonely, which is a tragic story,” Shah said.
“Except I know the other story, which is that she and I went on a date and she’s my Kylie. And that’s a completely different experience.’
The couple said their relationship was cemented during Melbourne’s notoriously long Covid lockdown.
“I had spent so much time alone in prison that I didn’t want to be alone anymore,” Dr. Moore-Gilbert said.
“In a way, we healed each other.”
It was at that time that Dr. Moore-Gilbert also struck up a relationship with Mr Shah’s 14-year-old daughter, who was cautious about her father’s new girlfriend after the failure of his first two marriages.
Mr Shah admitted that during one of their first conversations on the dating app, he had joked about Dr Moore-Gilbert being a spy, but he didn’t understand why his humor was off.
Dr. Moore-Gilbert divided her time in Iran between Evin Prison in Tehran (above) and Qarchak Prison
She and Sami Shah (together above) met on a dating app shortly after Dr Moore-Gilbert returned to Australia
Only in the days that followed did he realize that the same accusation from the Iranian government had changed her entire life forever.
In 2018, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested Dr. Moore-Gilbert, the cousin of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, after two people she attended a conference with labeled her “suspicious.”
At the time, Dr. Moore-Gilbert was married to Mr. Hodorov, a Russian immigrant who moved to Israel with his family.
The IRGC used this relationship to accuse Dr. Moore-Gilbert of Israeli espionage, a claim it continues to deny.
A judge of Iran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced her to 10 years in prison in a secret trial that found no evidence against Dr. Moore-Gilbert was presented.
Dr. Moore-Gilbert believes she was the victim of hostage diplomacy.
Hostage diplomacy involves a country holding someone captive, often on vague or false charges, in order to use the release as leverage for international negotiations.
Last week, Australian journalist Cheng Lei was released from Chinese prison after being arrested for “illegally providing state secrets abroad” during a time of tension between Australia and China. It is believed she was a diplomatic hostage.
In Dr Moore-Gilbert’s case, Australia was able to exchange her release for that of three Iranian prisoners in Thailand – two of whom were involved in the 2012 Bangkok bombing that killed 22 people.
During her time in prison, Dr Moore-Gilbert said she was held in a freezing, small room and subjected to psychological torture.
Dr. Moore-Gilbert (above) said she was held in a freezing, tiny room and subjected to psychological torture in Iran.
When Dr. Moore-Gilbert returned home, she discovered that her then-husband, Ruslan Hodorov (right), was in a new relationship with her colleague, Dr. Kylie Baxter (left)
She went on several hunger strikes and at one point in May 2020, her family had to quell rumors that she had committed suicide behind bars.
‘It’s psychological torture. It is a box of two by two meters. You’re going completely crazy. It’s so harmful. By the end of it I was a crazy lady. My emotional state was just so volatile. I actually had a prolonged anxiety attack,” she told Sky News.
She believes her stay was extended by six to seven months after a ‘perverted’ prison boss showed interest in her.
“He wanted some kind of romantic relationship with me,” she told 60 Minutes last year.
‘It was a perverse romantic interest. He arranged a birthday party for me with a birthday cake. He had complete control over every facet of my life.”
Dr. Moore-Gilbert previously said she was forced to “lose her things” to prevent other inmates and guards from taking advantage of her.
However, due to her hot temper, she was transferred from Evin Prison in Tehran to the even worse one, Qarchak Prison.
When she was finally released in 2020, Dr. Moore-Gilbert’s suspicions that her marriage to Mr. Hodorov was over were confirmed.
She said her then-husband stopped saying “I love you” during phone calls in prison and stopped calling her when she returned home to Australia.
While in quarantine in Melbourne, her mother broke the news that he was with another woman.
Dr. Moore-Gilbert (above) said she and Mr Shah have strengthened their relationship during the Covid lockdown
Since her release, Dr. Moore-Gilbert (above) has written a book, The Uncaged Sky, about her time behind bars and continues to advocate for human rights in the Middle East.
“I knew there was a problem 12 months before I came home,” she told Sky News.
“My mother told me when I arrived in hotel quarantine. She heard it the day before from a third person, a third party… My family found out and called (him), and he confirmed it.”
A short time later, she filed for divorce and took to Twitter to confirm the split, writing, “Please forgive the irrelevant personal communication, dear Twitter, but… ladies and gentlemen, I am officially divorced! Time for a sneaky kardonnay?’
Since her release, Dr. Moore-Gilbert has written a book, The Uncaged Sky, about her time behind bars and continues to advocate for human rights in the Middle East.
