A man residing in Roscommon has spent 1,000 days in an Iraqi hail in what the United Nations has described as an “arbitrary detention.”
Australian native construction engineer Robert Pether and his Egyptian colleague Khalid Radwan were arrested in April of 2021, in the midst of a contractual dispute between their Dubai based employer and the Central Bank of Iraq.
The two were sentenced to five years in prison in August 2021, and ordered to pay a $12 million penalty over allegations that their employer spent funds that should have been paid to others involved in the building of the bank’s new headquarters, according to RTÉ News.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr. Pether’s Irish wife Desree said her husband is at “rock bottom” after spending his third Christmas in a Baghdad prison.
After speaking to her husband earlier in the week, Ms. Pether said that he felt the situation was “still not one step in a positive direction.”
In a statement issued to the state broadcaster, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it is "aware of developments in the case of Mr. Pether.
“As Mr Pether is an Australian national, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is the relevant consular authority.
"Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs have liaised with relevant Australian authorities in relation to the case and the concerns of the family.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs is in regular contact with the Pether family."
