Australian engineer freed on bail after four years in Iraqi prison

Robert Pether remains barred from leaving Iraq

Representative: Iraqi policemen standing guard in Baghdad (AFP via Getty Images)

An Australian engineer has been granted conditional release after spending more than four years in an Iraqi prison in what the UN has described as arbitrary detention.

Robert Pether, 50, was arrested in Baghdad in April 2021 along with his colleague, Egyptian national Khalid Radwan, amid a contractual dispute between their employer CME Consulting and the Central Bank of Iraq.

The two men had been overseeing the multi-million-dollar reconstruction of the bank’s Baghdad headquarters, a project Pether had been involved with since 2015.

Following their arrest, both men were held for nearly six months without charge, subjected to what the UN described as “abusive and coercive” interrogations, and ultimately sentenced to five years in prison and a joint fine of $12m (£8.8m).

Pether, who has consistently maintained his innocence, said he was forced to sign a pre-written confession in Arabic.

In 2022, a UN working group concluded that the detention of the pair violated international law and due process.

The following year, the International Chamber of Commerce’s Court of Arbitration ruled that the Central Bank of Iraq, not CME Consulting, was at fault in the contractual disagreement and ordered it to pay $13m (£9.5m) in compensation to the firm.

Although Pether has now been granted bail, he is still prohibited from leaving Iraq and will face ongoing legal proceedings.

His family and supporters are urging the authorities to lift the travel ban so he can receive urgent medical treatment.

His wife, Desree Pether, told the BBC that he is “extremely sick” and has been unable to eat properly for months, raising fears of a possible recurrence of skin cancer.

“He’s unrecognisable,” Ms Pether said. “If he got on a plane now and they were checking his passport, they would not know it was the same person.”

She added that the family had begun crowdfunding to afford private hospital care for him in Baghdad. “Enough is enough. He needs to come home.”

In a statement, Australia’s foreign minister, Senator Penny Wong, welcomed the development, calling it “a positive step” following years of “persistent advocacy”.

She noted the personal toll the detention has taken on Pether and his family, adding that she hoped “this news brings a measure of relief after years of distress”, reported 9 News.

Senator Wong also thanked Australian officials, including the government’s special envoy to Iraq, for their efforts, noting that Pether’s case had been raised with Iraqi authorities more than 200 times.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Tánaiste Simon Harris, also acknowledged the development, revealing that Iraq’s foreign minister Fuad Hussein had called him directly to confirm Pether’s release. The Pether family had been living in Roscommon, Ireland, before the arrest.

“I welcomed this as a first step to his being allowed to return to his family in Roscommon,” said Mr Harris. "I also spoke this evening with Robert's wife, Desree Pether, about this positive development."

Speaking after a phone call with her husband on Thursday night, Ms Pether said he was briefly uplifted by the release but warned he was likely to crash emotionally soon after. “There’s a tiny glimmer of hope,” she said. “But there’s another mountain still to go over.”

In a letter written from prison last year, Pether described the pain of missing milestones with his wife and five children during his detention.

"I've missed so many milestones," he wrote.

"Our oldest son’s 30th, our other son’s 18th and soon 21st and our youngest son's 16th and 18th. Our youngest two boys have finished school and are now young men. Our daughter was eight when I was arrested and is now 11.

"I've missed three Christmases and four Easters, multiple birthdays, three wedding anniversaries, and so much more.”

He wrote feeling “abandoned” by the Anthony Albanese government.

“I have pleaded for three years for Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Minister Wong to do everything they can to help me and get me home,” he said.

“So far, I just feel abandoned. I am sick, and worried I will not survive this ordeal much longer.

“I want to go home,” he wrote. “I want to go back to Australia and hear the birds, swim at the beach, sit and watch the harbour while the ferries come and go and feel the sun on my skin.”