Arrest of Jolie King and Mark Firkin

[1] The pair left Perth in July 2017 in a Toyota Land Cruiser bound for the UK, as they both planned a long-time travel for two years driving across 36 countries.

[5] King and Firkin had frequently used a drone in photos and videos published of their travels through Australia, Asia and the Middle East, with once nearly 19,000 people, now currently 36,500+ following their adventures on their Instagram page.

[6] In July 2019, King and Firkin were arrested at gunpoint for flying a drone near military installations "without a license" in Tehran province, according to a Persian broadcaster Manato TV on Twitter.

A British woman by the name of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained in Iran from 3 April 2018 and had gone through multiple charges from plotting against the Iranian government[11][12] to propaganda activities,[13] until she was finally released on 16 March 2022.

Due to King and Firin were not the only foreigners that had been arrested, the government were also working to secure the release of another British Australian, who had been detained from 18 September to 20 November - Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a Middle East expert at the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute, specialising in Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

Further stated by Payne, the government had worked hard and discreetly through diplomatic channels to ensure their charges be dropped along with proper treatment and care.