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Speaker 1: Jumb mission with joon Z and Amanda.

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Speaker 2: In September twenty eighteen, Kylie Moore Gilbert was on her

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Speaker 2: way home from an academic conference in Iran when she

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Speaker 2: was arrested, accused of espionage. Trapped in a foreign country,

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Speaker 2: Kylie was detained and eventually imprisoned over the course of

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Speaker 2: eight hundred and four days, much of which was been

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Speaker 2: in solitary confinement. She resisted making a false confession despite

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Speaker 2: relentless interrogation and psychological torture.

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Speaker 3: It's hard to imagine this story.

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Speaker 2: It's quite extraordinary. Kylie has written a book about it,

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Speaker 2: called The Uncaged Sky, and she joins us now, Hello, Kylie.

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Speaker 1: Hi, guys, thanks so much for having me.

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Speaker 3: It's great to have you on the show. Kylie.

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Speaker 4: I'm reading your book and it starts off you're about

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Speaker 4: to leave Iran, You're about to get out of there,

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Speaker 4: and then all of a sudden, you're at passport control,

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Speaker 4: You're in a room, and then next minute it just

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Speaker 4: gets worse and worse.

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Speaker 3: That must have been dreadful.

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Speaker 1: Oh, it was terrifying. I had no idea what was

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Speaker 1: happening because I didn't speak Fassy. Their English was a pall.

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Speaker 1: They weren't wearing uniforms, and they didn't show me any

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Speaker 1: badge or any license or anything. So I had no

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Speaker 1: idea who the men were that had arrested me. They

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Speaker 1: were just a group of plain clothes, buggish looking men,

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Speaker 1: and they took me to a location that you know,

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Speaker 1: I wasn't aware of either, so I didn't know where

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Speaker 1: I was. I didn't know who'd arrested me, and I

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Speaker 1: didn't know why.

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Speaker 2: So it was frightening absolutely. And did you find out why?

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Speaker 1: Why?

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Speaker 2: You you were a foreign woman in Iran but you

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Speaker 2: were there for a conference.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I'd been invited to Iran actually for as an

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Speaker 1: academic steminar by an Iranian university and I'd only gone

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Speaker 1: to a run for three weeks. I was, you know,

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Speaker 1: at the airport, checking into my flight to go back

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Speaker 1: home afterwards, and when this happened to me, and I

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Speaker 1: had a lot of time, obviously to think and to

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Speaker 1: ruminate in my cell after they threw me in prison,

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Speaker 1: and I often asked myself, why me, Why has this

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Speaker 1: happened to me? And I think I was really really

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Speaker 1: unlucky because I got flagged on these guys radar and

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Speaker 1: there were the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is kind

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Speaker 1: of a paramilitary group within Iran, a state within a

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Speaker 1: state sort of thing. It's not the Uranian government. And

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Speaker 1: you know, I'd spoken to somebody who was aligned with them,

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Speaker 1: associated with them, and he sold me out. You know,

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Speaker 1: he'd got some sort of benefits for dabbing me into

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Speaker 1: this group and flagging me as suspicious for whatever reason.

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Speaker 1: And due to that bad luck, I was thrown in.

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Speaker 4: Prison because you an Islamic academic scholar from Melbourne and

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Speaker 4: your husband is ex Russian, but he'd been over in

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Speaker 4: Israel and they were worried about some sort of Zionist

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Speaker 4: link or something, and I thought that you were a spy.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so I don't think that. I don't think they

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Speaker 1: knew that my husband had my ex husband had Israeli

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Speaker 1: citizenship when they first started looking into me. I think

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Speaker 1: that emerged a bit later, and obviously that made me

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Speaker 1: even more suspicious in their eyes. But yes, I am

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Speaker 1: a scholar of Middle Eastern studies formerly at the University

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Speaker 1: of Melbourne, so maybe that you know, my research wasn't

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Speaker 1: about Iran at all. I'd never written anything on Iran.

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Speaker 1: I knew I shouldn't talk about the nuclear program, or

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Speaker 1: the Supreme Leader or any of these taboo subjects inside Iran.

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Speaker 1: But maybe, yeah, that's aroused the suspicions.

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Speaker 4: But at the end of the day, you spend eight

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Speaker 4: hundred and four days locked up for being doing nothing

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Speaker 4: other than being yourself.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. These people are completely paranoid, you know, they

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Speaker 1: they're seeing spies everywhere. They're living in this fantasy world

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Speaker 1: of conspiracy theories, and you know, the harm that they've

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Speaker 1: done to countless people's lives because of this worldview is

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Speaker 1: really shocking. You know, I'm not the only one, and

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Speaker 1: unfortunately I don't think I will be the only one.

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Speaker 1: That they've done this too.

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Speaker 2: Eight hundred and four days, a lot of which was

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Speaker 2: in solitary confinement, is almost unimaginable. Can you just describe,

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Speaker 2: briefly paint a picture as to.

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Speaker 3: What that is.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I was in a variety of different cells,

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Speaker 1: and as times I had bell mates, but certainly the

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Speaker 1: beginning was the hardest. I was thrown in a two

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Speaker 1: x two meter spop without a window, without any natural lights,

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Speaker 1: with no stimulation whatsoever. There was no furniture, There wasn't

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Speaker 1: even bedding, There wasn't a pillow. I just had a

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Speaker 1: few scratchy, old, dirty military blankets, and the light was

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Speaker 1: on twenty four hours a day. There was absolutely nothing

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Speaker 1: to do but go crazy. You know, your brain became

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Speaker 1: your enemy. If I just somehow switch off your mind,

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Speaker 1: switch off your thought process to survive, because trapped in

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Speaker 1: this room twenty three hours a day with absolutely no stimulation,

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Speaker 1: you go crazy.

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Speaker 3: Wow, and while this is happening, you think, and what

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Speaker 3: can this get worse? Your husband had an affair with

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Speaker 3: a university colleague.

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Speaker 1: Honestly, all things considered, what happened to me in prison

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Speaker 1: and the conditions I was subjected to was a hell

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Speaker 1: of a lot worse to deal with than that.

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Speaker 3: Okay, well, I'm glad you could see the upside.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean didn't. I wasn't aware of that when

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Speaker 1: I was there, so I wasn't and it was probably

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Speaker 1: a good thing that I wasn't aware of that.

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Speaker 2: To be honest, we didn't know much about your case

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Speaker 2: until later on. And I know you've said your family

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Speaker 2: were told not to say anything because it might impede

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Speaker 2: the negotiations. But do you wish in retrospect we had

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Speaker 2: known what was going on and fought for you.

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Speaker 1: Yes, it was what I wanted. It was what I

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Speaker 1: was asking the embassy staff and my family, you know,

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Speaker 1: on the odd occasion that I spoke to them to do.

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Speaker 1: But you know, it was a very difficult call to make.

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Speaker 1: My family were being told that if they spoke out

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Speaker 1: it could endanger me and you know what parents of

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Speaker 1: somebody had and then go and speak out if they're

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Speaker 1: told that, you know. So it was a really, really

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Speaker 1: hard decision to make. But thankfully I had some amazing

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Speaker 1: friends and colleagues who, after the news got out that

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Speaker 1: I was there about one year after my own carceervation began,

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Speaker 1: they started campaigning for me. And I'm really really grateful

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Speaker 1: to them.

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Speaker 4: Well, it's great you're back, and I guess you won't

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Speaker 4: be going over to the Middle East anytime soon.

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Speaker 3: Maybe Hawaii. Hawaii is good. You never get in trouble in.

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Speaker 2: Hawaii unless she's got Morrison, unless you's got Morrison.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I list all of that stuff, actually, the fires

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Speaker 1: and everything, and I wasn't even really aware of them

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Speaker 1: att all. When I was in the run. I didn't

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Speaker 1: even know Scott Morrison was the Prime minister. Can you

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Speaker 1: believe I knew there was an election? But you know,

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Speaker 1: last time I heard Bill Shorton was going to win,

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Speaker 1: that was it. Yeah, I actually thought Bill Shorton was

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Speaker 1: the PM for a few months. There.

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Speaker 3: Well scoma feels the same. He's going, well, I'm Prime Minister.

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Speaker 3: How did this happen? I didn't know that.

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Speaker 4: Well, Kylie, I'm reading the book and I'm really enjoying it.

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Speaker 4: But it's just an incredible tale. The Young kaid Sky

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Speaker 4: is out now in all Good bookstores and online.

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Speaker 3: Carlie more Gilbert, thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, guys, Thank you, Kylie, Jonesy

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Speaker 1: And Amanda's gammation