Iran has acknowledged for the first time that it is holding three Australian nationals, including two with joint British nationality, on suspicion of spying.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili as saying the three had been charged in two separate cases.

He said two people, thought to be British-Australian blogger Jolie King and her boyfriend Mark Firkin, had been detained for using a drone to take pictures and video of military areas and other unauthorised zones.

He said the third, believed to be Cambridge-educated academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, faces charges of spying for another country.

Ms Moore-Gilbert, a Cambridge-educated academic who was most recently a lecturer in Islamic Studies at Melbourne University, has been in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for almost a year, having reportedly been given a 10-year sentence.

She has previously published work on the 2011 Arab uprisings and on authoritarian governments.

“‘Humble’ doesn’t quite do Kylie justice. She was a thoughtful and passionate academic,” University of Melbourne academic George Rennie said.

“This is a disgusting reflection on the Iranian dictatorship.”

Australia said last week it was pressing Iran to free those held.

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