Australian engineer detained in Iraq for years reunited with family in Ireland

DUBLIN — An Australian engineer who was held in prison in Iraq for five years, has returned to Ireland to be reuinted with his family.Robert Pether was welcomed a Dublin Airport by his wife and children, who said they have been “living in hell” since Pether was arrested without charge in April 2021 in connection to a business dispute. The 51-year-old had been living in Ireland for a number of years.The United Nations has said Pether’s detention was illegal, and an international court has ruled his employer is not responsible for the business disagreement.Pether had been working as a mechanical engineer on rebuilding the Iraqi Central Bank when he was arrested with a colleague from CME Consulting, the Dubai-based company they were working for.There was a contract dispute between his employer and the Central Bank of Iraq, which led to him and his Egyptian colleague being imprisoned.On Monday the Australian government confirmed Pether was on his way to being reunited with his family at their home in Ireland.Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the outcome followed “many years of persistent advocacy” by Australia and the Irish authorities.”I spoke to Mr Pether shortly before his departure from Baghdad and am pleased he is now free to move forward with his life,” she said.”I’m hugely relieved,” his wife Desree Pether told the BBC in a statement.”It’s been an absolute nightmare, especially these last few months. So many obstacles and plot twists right up to the last minute.””We weren’t going to say anything until he was safe at the end of his journey,” she said, adding he was still in transit.Pether was conditionally released from prison in Iraq last year, but barred from leaving the country, with Canberra at the time saying he continued to face the prospect of more legal proceedings.Pether worked in the Middle East for almost a decade before taking on a huge rebuild of the Central Bank of Iraq’s Baghdad headquarters in 2015.He was arrested alongside his CME Consulting colleague, Egyptian Khalid Radwan, after the bank accused the men of stealing money from the project.After being held without charge for almost six months, and then subjected to a speedy trial, the two were each given a five-year jail sentence and a joint fine of $12 million (A$18.4m).However, a 2022 report from the UN determined that the case contravened international law, and that Pether and Khalid had been subjected to “abusive and coercive” interrogations.Iraq’s government has previously denied allegations of ill treatment.In 2023, the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Court of Arbitration ruled that Iraq’s central bank was at fault in the dispute with CME, and ordered it to pay $13 million to the company.