Kylie Moore-Gilbert is back in Australia after two years in an Iranian prison. Gaining her freedom could be a highlight of the skillful diplomacy undertaken by the Australian government who had the task of putting together a many sided deal to achieve that result.
Iran enjoys a prickly relation with the rest of the world and has been trying to develop its own nuclear weapons. A deal was brokered to keep the nation nuclear free and Iran was meeting its obligations when Donald Trump withdrew American support. Hopefully, when Joe Biden takes office he will bring that deal back to the status quo.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an Australian university lecturer who visited Iran for an academic conference. When she was about to leave the country she was arrested by the security police and charged with spying. It is believed that Iran discovered that her husband was an Israeli and her arrest was because of the enmity between Iran and Israel. She was pronounced guilty and sentenced to serve a ten year prison term.
The Australian government avoided " megaphone " diplomacy and negotiated quietly. It quickly became obvious that success would involve some sort of " deal " and three Islamic terrorists in prison in Thailand seemed a promising compromise. Our diplomats carefully created an arrangement that needed to get the nod from Iran, Thailand and Israel, with the transfers taking place in Australian hands.
That brought an aircraft from the Commonwealth air fleet to fly to Thailand and pickup those three terrorists and take them to Teheran, where it then brought the released Moore-Gilbert back to Australia. A very satisfactory arrangement which avoided compromise.
It does deliver a warning to Australians thinking of visiting the world's trouble spots. Even a comment innocently made on Facebook could cause offence to an overseas government and bring about an arrest. We are presently having a trade spat with China and many Australian exports to that country are being refused clearance in Chinese ports.
Should that situation escalate it could involve Australian tourists visiting China being refused an exit visa. We should remember the many long years of the " cold war " when entry and exit to any of the countries of the Soviet block presented problems. It was not unusual for dissidents to be trapped behind the " Iron Curtain " and forced to remain against their will for years.
Tensions have eased in many parts of the world but once a tourist steps on foreign land, he or she becomes subject to the laws in place in that country. Those laws might be entirely different to the law in place in Australia. It is a good idea to register your travel plans with the Australian government so that they know where to start looking if you suddenly " disappear ".
Kylie Moore-Gilbert's experience in Iran should be a lesson for Australian wise travellers to learn.
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