Committee of Concerned Scientists

An international non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.

An independent non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.
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British-Australian Lecturer Has Been Held in Iranian Prison for Past Year Convicted of Espionage

Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert, lecturer at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Studies Institute, was arrested in Iran and charged with espionage. She has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

This week it was revealed that a British-Australian academic who had been teaching at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute in Australia was arrested in Iran in October of 2018 , tried allegedly for espionage, and sentenced to 10 years in prison (Iranian officials deny that she has been tried, but others close to her report that she has been both tried and sentenced).

Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert has written extensively about revolutions and activism in the Middle East with a particular focus on Shia Islam, Bahraini politics and protest movements there. She has published journal articles, with her most recent on Bahrain’s pro-democracy youth movement. She has posted material online in opposition to Bahrain’s crackdown during the post-Arab Spring.

When Dr. Moore-Gilbert was arrested she had a grant to research Iran’s relationship with Bahrain’s Shia after the Arab uprisings. The grant was part of Melbourne University’s early career researcher grants program.

Dr. Moore-Gilbert has been held for almost one year in Tehran’s Evin Prison which is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Her family has been in close contact with the Australian consulate and the consulate staff has been in touch with the Iranians. The Australian Foreign Minister reports that as recently as last week she had been in touch with her counterpart Javad Zarif.

Everyone from her university counterparts, to her friends and people that know her professionally find her participation in espionage impossible to believe. When interviewed, everyone noted that it was totally out of character for her.

The Committee of Concerned Scientists urges the Iranian government to release Dr. Moore-Gilbert as quickly as possible, dismiss the case and allow her to continue with her work. We also urge other academics to write in her behalf advocating for her immediate release.

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Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Paul H. Plotz, M.D., Washington, DC

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Astronomy – Arno Penzias, New Enterprises Associates*

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Medical Sciences – J. Joseph Blum, Duke University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deceased), Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser, Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy, University of Pittsburg

David Gross, (2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), Kavil Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara*

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Louis Nirenberg, New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Honorary Board Members

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, (1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine), New England Biolabs*

Myriam Sarachick, City College of New York

Harold Scheraga, Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin*

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate