Iran waging Moore-Gilbert ‘disinformation campaign’ 

Kylie Moore-Gilbert maintains that the spying allegations leveled at her by Iran are baseless. (Reuters)
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Updated 03 December 2020
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Iran waging Moore-Gilbert ‘disinformation campaign’ 

  • An Iranian TV program claimed that Moore-Gilbert was ‘recruited by Israeli intelligence’ and then placed at Cambridge University to link up with former Israeli army officers and Mossad
  • The 33-year-old Middle East expert spent more than 800 days in Tehran’s custody until she was exchanged for three Iranian prisoners serving sentences overseas

LONDON: Iran has launched a disinformation campaign following the release of British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, claiming that she “spied for Israel.”

An Iranian state-run TV channel aired a 10-minute program on Moore-Gilbert featuring several pictures of her traveling, and with friends and family.

The 33-year-old Middle East expert spent more than 800 days in Tehran’s custody until she was exchanged for three Iranian prisoners serving sentences overseas, in a high-profile prisoner swap last week.

Together with the Australian government, she maintains that the spying allegations are baseless. No evidence of her alleged crimes has ever been publicly presented by Tehran.

The TV program claimed that Moore-Gilbert was “recruited by Israeli intelligence” and then placed at Cambridge University in the UK to link up with former Israeli army officers and Mossad.

There was no evidence presented, but the program featured images of Moore-Gilbert visiting Jerusalem and images of her alongside other women in military uniforms, in what the commentary claimed was a “Haifa training camp.”

The program said: “As per her training and to avoid any threat, she went to all the places where tourists visit and made calls from those areas and took photographs. She was told to hide her travels to Israel and also her contacts with Israelis.”

Jasim Husain, a former Bahraini MP, is accused by the report of helping Moore-Gilbert learn Arabic and Farsi, and offering to help her spy on Shiite exiles in Iran.

In response to the allegations, Husain told The Guardian newspaper: “The story is unconvincing to anyone with basic knowledge.”

He said he met Moore-Gilbert at an academic forum in Australia before her 2018 visit to Iran, where she was detained while leaving the country.

Husain said: “I was aware of her trip. She was going there for a conference, then going to some tourist sites, then engaging in some research.”

He added: “Kylie can do no trouble to anyone, let alone a country. She is properly peaceful, a true researcher, an academic and someone who loves the Middle East.”

He said the Iranian TV report left him concerned about his security, adding: “Some people believe this nonsense.”

Diplomatic sources said the Iranian disinformation campaign is designed to achieve two goals: Domestically, to prove to the public that the prisoner swap was a diplomatic victory for Tehran; and internationally, to justify Moore-Gilbert’s detainment.

Moore-Gilbert returned to Australia last week. She posted a message on Facebook thanking her supporters. “My freedom truly is your victory. From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” she said.


Syrian state media: Israel attacked town near Lebanon border

Updated 3 sec ago
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Syrian state media: Israel attacked town near Lebanon border

DAMASCUS: An Israeli strike hit a Syrian town near the border with Lebanon on Tuesday, Syrian state media said, less than a week after deadly strikes on the same area.
“An Israeli aggression targeted the industrial zone in Al-Qusayr” in Homs province, the official SANA news agency said. There was no immediate news of casualties or damage.

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 43,391

Updated 13 min 48 sec ago
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Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 43,391

  • The toll includes 17 deaths in the previous 24 hours

GAZA STRIP: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 43,391 people have been killed in the year-old war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 17 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 102,347 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.


Greece says migrant arrivals rising in south-east islands

Updated 38 min 40 sec ago
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Greece says migrant arrivals rising in south-east islands

  • At the end of October, several hundred migrants set up tents and cardboard houses outside the local government offices of the city of Rhodes, sparking anger among residents
  • Rhodes mayor Alexandros Koliadis told Rodiaki that the island lacks the personnel, police officers and coast guard needed to register the arrivals before transferring them to camps

ATHENS: Some islands in the southeast of the Aegean sea, including Rhodes, are seeing an increase in migrants arriving by boat from Turkiye, Greek migration and asylum minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said Tuesday.
“The southeast of the Aegean and the island of Rhodes are experiencing migratory pressure right now,” he said on public television station ERT, though he said the increase does not appear to be linked to rising tensions in the Middle East.
At the end of October, several hundred migrants set up tents and cardboard houses outside the local government offices of the city of Rhodes, sparking anger among residents and local authorities.
According to local media Rodiaki, more than 700 migrants arrived during the last week of October.
Rhodes mayor Alexandros Koliadis told Rodiaki that the island lacks the personnel, police officers and coast guard needed to register the arrivals before transferring them to camps on the mainland or in other islands.
Previously, Aegean islands further north such as Lesbos and Samos had received the brunt of migrants crossing from Turkish shores.
Crete, which has likewise seen an increase in arrivals from Libya, also needs to build facilities to process migrants.
Greece has seen a 25 percent increase this year in the number of people fleeing war and poverty, with a 30 percent increase alone to Rhodes and the south-east Aegean, according to the Migration Ministry.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says 48,158 arrivals have been recorded so far in 2024, of which around 42,000 arrived by boat and 6,000 by crossing the land frontier with Turkiye.
“The camps on the islands have an occupancy rate of 100 percent. But on the mainland they are only 55 percent full, which provides a margin in the event of an increase in arrivals on the islands,” Panagiotopoulos said.


Sudan files AU complaint against Chad over arms: minister

Updated 51 min 17 sec ago
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Sudan files AU complaint against Chad over arms: minister

  • Chad last month denied accusations that it was “amplifying the war in Sudan” by arming the RSF

PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s army-backed government on Tuesday accused neighboring Chad of supplying arms to rebel militias, likely referring to the paramilitary forces it is battling.
The northeast African country has been engulfed by war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the regular army, led by de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Justice minister Muawiya Osman said Burhan’s administration had lodged the complaint against Chad at the African Union.
Speaking to reporters, including AFP, Osman said the government demanded compensation and accused Chad of “supplying arms to rebel militias” and causing “harm to Sudanese citizens.”
“We will present evidence to the relevant authorities,” he added from Port Sudan, where Burhan relocated after fighting spread to the capital, Khartoum.
Chad last month denied accusations that it was “amplifying the war in Sudan” by arming the RSF.
“We do not support any of the factions that are fighting on Sudanese territory — we are in favor of peace,” foreign minister and government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said at the time.
The United Nations has been using the Adre border crossing between the two countries to deliver humanitarian aid.
Sudan had initially agreed to keep the crossing open for three months, a period set to expire on November 15. Authorities in Khartoum have yet to decide whether to extend the arrangement.
The Sudanese war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million, including 3.1 million who are now sheltering beyond the country’s borders.


Explosion at Turkish oil refinery injures 12

Updated 05 November 2024
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Explosion at Turkish oil refinery injures 12

  • The 12 employees sustained slight injuries and were taken to a hospital for examinations

ANKARA: An explosion at an oil refinery in northwestern Turkiye on Tuesday left at least 12 employees slightly injured, the company said. A fire at the facility was quickly brought under control.
The Turkish Petroleum Refineries company, TUPRAS, said a fire broke out at its facilities in Izmit, in Kocaeli province, during maintenance work on a compressor. The company’s emergency teams responded immediately to the incident, it said in a statement.
The 12 employees sustained slight injuries and were taken to a hospital for examinations, the company said.
The company said the unit where the incident occurred “was deactivated in a controlled manner” and that other operations at the refinery were “continuing as normal.”
Earlier, Tahir Buyukakin, the mayor for Kocaeli told private NTV television that the blast occurred during a drill. The fire was quickly brought under control by the company’s own crews and no request for help was made, he said.
Video footage from the site showed smoke rising from the refinery, which is one of Turkiye’s largest. Izmit is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Istanbul.
The Borsa Istanbul stock exchange temporarily halted trading of TUPRAS shares, until the company provides a detailed explanation of the incident.