When an Australian academic accepted an university invitation to travel to Iran, she couldn’t have predicted the harsh fate that befell her. 

Kylie Moore-Gilbert travelled to Iran in August 2018 to attend a seminar on Shia Islam with a number of foreign scholars.

When she came to check in for her return flight to Australia, her trip took a terrifying turn.

Accused of being a spy, Ms Moore-Gilbert was thrust into a high-security prison run by Iran’s paramilitary group, the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It marked the beginning of an ordeal that would come to last more than 800 days.

Ms Moore-Gilbert told Neil Breen four months ticked by before she was able to speak with a consular representative.

“I didn’t know where I was, who had arrested me and why.”

Press PLAY below to hear Kylie Moore-Gilbert retell her waking nightmare 

Image: Supplied