Kylie Moore-Gilbert

Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an Australian-based academic, bestselling author, and internationally recognised human rights advocate. With a research background in Middle East political science, Kylie travelled to Iran in 2018 to attend an academic conference, only to be arrested at the airport while attempting to return to Australia. What followed was a harrowing ordeal that would place ger at the centre of global geopolitics.

Interrogated for months by Iran’s feared Revolutionary Guards, Kylie was ultimately convicted of espionage in a secretive trial overseen by one of the country’s most notorious judges and sentenced to ten years in prison. She spent more than two years incarcerated, including a year in solitary confinement, enduring extreme physical and psychological deprivation inside Tehran’s infamous Evin prison. Her survival depended on covert friendships with fellow inmates and acts of resistance, including hunger strikes, coordinated protests, and a daring escape attempt that ultimately led to her transfer to a remote desert prison called Qarchak. On 25 November 2020, after 804 days in captivity, Kylie was finally released as part of a high-stakes three-nation prisoner swap deal, an experience that starkly revealed the realities of state hostage-taking and international power politics.

In 2022, Kylie published her bestselling memoir ‘The Uncaged Sky: My 804 Days in an Iranian Prison’, which has been widely praised for its honesty, insight, and humanity. Since her release, she has become a prominent voice on foreign affairs, freedom of expression, and human rights, particularly advocating for democracy in Iran and for other victims of wrongful and arbitrary detention through the Australian Wrongful and Arbitrary Detention Alliance.

Kylie is a highly sought-after media analyst and commentator and writer, having written for outlets including The Age, The Saturday Paper and CNN. She can be seen featuring on programs including ABC Q+A, 7:30 Report, 60 Minutes and BBC Hardtalk, and has been profiled in The New York Times, the BBC, the Guardian, Good Weekend and Sky News.

An experienced keynote speaker, panellist, and moderator, Kylie regularly speaks at public and corporate events on foreign affairs, human rights, writing and literature, and freedom of expression. She offers audiences rare insight into resilience, global politics, and the human cost of injustice.