MEMBERS
Dr. Kylie Moore-Gillbert
DIRECTOR
Kylie is a committed advocate for Australians wrongfully detained abroad, including victims of state hostage-taking.
Kylie was imprisoned in Iran in 2018 on fabricated charges of ‘espionage,’ having been arrested by the Revolutionary Guards Corps after attending an academic conference. Kylie ultimately served 2 years and 3 months of a 10-year sentence, before being traded in a prisoner swap deal in 2020.
A writer and academic, Kylie published a memoir in 2022 titled The Uncaged Sky, drawing on her own lived experience to examine the phenomenon of wrongful detention.
Kylie is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University.
X: @KMooreGilbert
Instagram: kyliemooregilbert
Prof. Sean Turnell
FOUNDING MEMBER
Prof. Sean Turnell has been a senior economic analyst at the Reserve Bank of Australia, a Professor of Economics at Macquarie University, and is currently a Senior Fellow at the Lowy Institute, Sydney.
From 2016 to 2021 Sean served as economic adviser to Myanmar’s democratic government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Following the military coup that took place in Myanmar in February 2021, Sean was imprisoned alongside Myanmar’s democratic leadership.
After 650 days of incarceration and severe ill-treatment, he was finally released in November 2022.
Sean has written extensively on macroeconomic policy-making, economic reform, and the role of financial institutions in economic development, with a special focus on Australia, Myanmar, and the Indo-Pacific.
His memoir, titled An Unlikely Prisoner, was published in November 2023.
X: @TurnellSean
Cheng Lei
FOUNDING MEMBER
Cheng Lei is an Australian-Chinese journalist recently freed from over three years’ detention in China on bogus espionage charges.
Lei worked in China for twenty years in business journalism and prior to that was an accountant in Melbourne.
Following her release in 2023, Lei joined Sky News Australia as a columnist and presenter.
In recognition of her resilience and bravery, she was awarded the 2024 The Australian’s Australian of the Year award.
Nick Coyle
FOUNDING MEMBER
Nick Coyle is the former head of the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce and is the partner of Cheng Lei, the Australian journalist wrongfully detained in China from 2020-2023.
Cheng Lei’s arrest, amidst rising Australia-China political tensions, drew international concern and condemnation, with Lei widely regarded as a victim of the breakdown in diplomatic relations.
Nick Coyle spearheaded the public campaign for Lei’s release, and also acted as a key liaison with DFAT and the Australian embassy in Beijing as they pushed for Lei’s freedom.
LUKE COOK
MEMBER
Luke Cook was falsely accused of drug trafficking in Thailand in 2017, and was initially sentenced to death in a deeply flawed trial.
After spending more than four years in a Thai prison, Thailand’s Supreme Court ultimately exonerated Luke and he was freed and allowed to return to Australia.
Luke has since become an outspoken advocate against the death penalty, including on behalf of the Capital Punishment Justice Project.
dr. kay danes oam
MEMBER
Kay Danes was arbitrarily detained in Laos in 2000, where she was held in an undisclosed location for nearly a year. She was eventually pardoned and allowed to return to Australia in November 2001.
Since her release, Kay has worked with the US Centre for Public Policy Analysis and has participated in several US Congressional forums and conferences on issues related to arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances.
Kay is the author of Standing Ground (2008), Families Behind Bars (2011), Beneath the Pale Blue Burqa (2015) and Safety Essentials for Business and Leisure Travel (2019).
X: @KayDanes
Instagram: kay_danes
peter greste
MEMBER
Peter Greste is an academic, media freedom advocate and journalist with a 25 year career as a foreign correspondent.
In 2013 he was working for Al Jazeera covering Egypt’s unfolding political crisis when he and two colleagues were arrested and charged with terrorism.
After a trial widely dismissed as a sham, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison. The conviction triggered widespread condemnation and increased international pressure, and after 400 days behind bars, Peter was released.
He has since become a vocal campaigner for media freedom, and he set up the advocacy group, the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom which campaigns for media workers across Australia and the Asia Pacific.
X: @PeterGreste
JAMES RICKETSON
MEMBER
James Ricketson is an award-winning Australian documentary filmmaker.
He was arrested in Cambodia in 2017 for flying a drone at a political rally, and was put on trial under false espionage charges.
James would spend 15 months in prison before being released under a presidential pardon in September 2018.
peyman jebeli
MEMBER
Peyman Jebeli is the son of Shokrollah Issa Jebeli, an 82-year old Australian citizen who was arbitrarily detained on false allegations in Iran’s Evin Prison in 2020.
After spending 810 days in prison as an innocent man, Shokrollah passed away as a result of medical negligence in March 2022.
Shokrollah's death in custody is a serious violation of international law that tragically remains uninvestigated to this day.
Peyman continues to call for justice for his father and accountability and punishment for those responsible for his death.
X: @freeshokrollah
Zehra mehdi
MEMBER
Zehra Mehdi is the sister of Hasan Askree, an Australian citizen who was arbitrarily detained in Pakistan from 2020 to 2023. During this time, Zehra left her family in Australia and spent three years in Pakistan fighting tirelessly for Hasan’s release.
After a successful public campaign which drew attention to Hasan’s plight in the Australian and international media, Hasan was finally freed. He however remains in Pakistan, unable to return to Australia due to a travel ban.
Zehra currently works as the Head of the Mathematics Faculty at a public high school in northwestern Sydney.
lamisse hamouda
MEMBER
Lamisse Hamouda is an award-winning writer, youth worker and workshop facilitator.
Lamisse led the ‘Bring Hazem Home’ Campaign from 2018-2019, in advocacy for her father’s release from an Egyptian prison.
Arriving for a family holiday, Lamisse’s father Hazem Hamouda had been arbitrarily arrested and detained, spending 14 months in Cairo’s Tora Prison under remand detention, and was released without charge.
Lamisse’s first book 'The Shape of Dust' (Pantera Press, 2023), co-authored with Hazem, delves into her father’s experience of being a dual-citizen imprisoned abroad. ‘The Shape of Dust’ won the 2024 National Biography of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award.
Lamisse is also a youth worker specialising in trauma-informed care for Unaccompanied Humanitarian Minors. Lamisse holds a Bachelor of Arts (Governance and International Relations) from the University of Sydney and is an Adjunct Lecturer at UNSW School of Social Science.
Prof. Chongyi Feng
MEMBER
Prof. Chongyi Feng is Associate Professor in China Studies at the University of Technology Sydney and Adjunct Professor in History at Nankai University. He has published extensively on Chinese history and politics, including authoring 11 books on the subject. His current research focuses on the quest for human rights and constitutional democracy in China.
Chongyi has been an enthusiastic advocate for human rights and democracy, and has been named one of the top one hundred Chinese public intellectuals.
Chongyi serves as President of the Australian and New Zealand Alliance for Victims of the Chinese Regime. He is making every effort to secure the release of his former student Dr Yang Hengjun, who was detained by Chinese secret police in 2019 and has been sentenced to death with a suspension of two years for his advocacy of universal values such as human rights, democracy and the rule of law.