KYLIE MOORE-GILBERT UNCAGED AT LAST

SHE SPENT 804 DAYS IN AN IRANIAN JAIL - NOW THE ACADEMIC IS FREE AND OPENING UP ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE IN A RAW AND UNFLINCHING MEMOIR

- Jacqui Lang

Tasting avocados, and sleeping in a bed again: are just two of the small "luxuries" Melbourne academic Kylie MooreGilbert has relished since her return to Australia, after over two years trapped in Iranian jail hell.

"There are no avocados in Iran; people don't know what they are,” MooreGilbert, 34, explains. “I missed them, and blueberries - and decent coffee!"

Finally freed in November 2020, after prolonged psychological torture at the hands of her Iranian captors, who accused her of being a spy, the Middle East expert tells WHO she no longer takes fresh Aussie produce for granted.

"The prison food was foul; disgusting. Often I'd go hungry, I could not eat it!

"Being able to also have hard cheese and a glass of wine, and sleep in comfort instead of on the floor with a dirty blanket is lovely," she enthuses. Small treats aside, MooreGilbert is yet to fully recover from her horrendous ordeal - which included being locked up in solitary confinement for months on end.

“In terms of my mental health, I think it's tougher for me now than when I first came out,” she says. “Then, I was on a sort of high for about six months; ecstatic to be free and not necessarily processing what I'd been through. Now some of the dust has started to settle, and a lot of painful stuff has come up."