Pether remains under Iraqi travel ban year after release

The Irish family of an Australian man who was released from prison in Iraq a year ago have said they have given "everything in the fight to get him home" but he remains under a travel ban in Baghdad.

Robert Pether, a construction engineer, had been living with his wife and family in Elphin, Co Roscommon, before travelling to Iraq in 2016.

Mr Pether had worked in the Middle East for almost a decade before taking on a huge rebuild of the Central Bank of Iraq's Baghdad headquarters.

He was arrested toward the end of the project in April 2021 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 fined millions of dollars.

The United Nations said their detention was illegal and demanded they both be released.

A 2022 UN report determined that the case contravened international law.

In 2023, an international court ruled that Iraq's central bank was at fault in the dispute.

The Iraqi government lost the cases on appeal, but the two prisoners were not released.

After serving his sentence, Mr Pether was released on conditional bail on 5 June last year and a travel ban was imposed.

There had been expectation and hope at that time of his release that diplomatic efforts would ensure he would be allowed travel back to Ireland to his family, but this has never materialised.

Instead, he remains in Baghdad in hiding, completely isolated, his family says.

"He's in a secure compound but he's unable to leave the compound out of fear of being re-arrested," his son Flynn Pether said.

"He can't leave the country, he can't work, he can't do anything so he's effectively in isolation once again, just without the confines of prison walls.

"Physically and mentally, he's not in a good way.

"He's very sick and he's been unable to get proper medical treatment, he was barely recovering from stage two starvation.

"He also has melanomas, and he's deeply concerned about that, but can't do anything about it.

"He believes that he will die in Iraq if he doesn't get medical attention soon," he said.

Flynn Pether, who was 17 when he last saw his father, says the family are in contact with him all the time but he is struggling.

The family have been unable to visit him in Iraq out of fear for their own safety.

Flynn Pether sat his Leaving Cert just weeks after Robert was jailed and has since completed an engineering degree at TU Dublin.

"Often it depends on the day, sometimes he'll be in good humour, other times he'll be in bad humour," he said.

"He can only talk about so much, because he's just doing the same thing over and over and over again and it's very difficult to try and keep him in high spirits."

It is now more than five years since Robert Pether's initial arrest, and his family say there is no sign of an end in their fight to get him back to Ireland.

"We've given everything to this fight but you're going up against a David and Goliath situation, where you're trying to tackle the full weight of the Iraqi government."

Both the Irish and Australian governments are working on the case.

Robert Pether is an Australian citizen but, since he lives in Elphin, Co Roscommon, and his wife, Desree, and their three children, Nala, Oscar and Flynn, are Irish citizens, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin is working to assist them.

"The Irish Government have their hands tied until he's an Irish citizen," said Flynn Pether.

Irish and Australian governments 'working closely'

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed to RTÉ News that Minister Helen McEntee spoke to her Iraqi counterpart yesterday about the "important case".

In a statement, a spokesperson for the department said it has been working consistently to secure Mr Pether's release from detention in Iraq and his return to his family in Ireland.

The department has been working closely with the Australian government to achieve this, the spokesperson added.

"We remain in close and regular contact with the Pether family on all aspects of this case and continue to offer assistance," the spokesperson said.

The Pether family are critical of the Australian government's efforts to support Mr Pether.

"With the Australian government, they're saying that they're doing everything within their power, but we find that often enough we're taking one step forward and then they're sending us two steps back," said Flynn Pether.

In a statement to RTÉ News, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Australia said the "Government acknowledges the immense toll that Mr Pether's detention and ongoing travel ban have taken on him and his family".

It said the Australian government has provided extensive consular assistance to Mr Pether and his family since he was first detained.

It added that it will "continue to advocate for his wellbeing and for him to be able to depart Iraq to be reunited with his family".

Hope for 'full unconditional release'

For Flynn Pether and his family, they wait to be reunited but are worried about their father’s health, which they say continues to deteriorate.

They are concerned too about their future, as a family.

"We've been in a legal battle for five plus years and there's no sign of it actually ending.

"We're looking at liquidating, selling the house, and then from there, where to next?

"How long can we realistically fight this battle for before we're all out of the fight?

"This day last year when we spoke, I said it was a happy day, but that happiness has faded into frustration," Flynn Pether said.

Despite all of this, the family hold on to hope.

"The ultimate hope is that we get him home with a full unconditional release and he can seek the proper medical attention that he needs desperately."