Latest news with #DesreePether
Irish Independent
10 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Independent
‘It was a terrible shock to see how bad he is' – wife of Robert Pether freed from Iraqi jail pleads with Government to ‘get him home'
Desree Pether said her husband's release on bail is a 'step in the right direction', but that the family still has another mountain to climb, as he is now on a travel ban. 'We don't know the conditions of the travel ban yet because this all happened late last night and now it is Eid Mubarak, a religious holiday in Iraq,' she said yesterday. Ms Pether said the family will not learn what the ban entails or how long it will last until the end of the the Islamic festival on Tuesday evening. 'When he was to be released in January it was supposed to be an indefinite travel ban. I was going to be shouting that it needs to be cancelled anyway. 'But now having seen the state of him, I am on the war path,' Ms Pether said. She said that whoever put the travel ban in place does not know what her husband looks like nor the 'terribly dangerous condition he is in'. 'Nobody in any good conscience would continue on with this if they knew. He is emaciated, he looks like the terrible condition you would see a prisoner being released,' she said. 'He is grey, like he never was before, both his skin and his hair. His eyes are sunken and dark and he is skin and bone. 'It was a terrible shock to see how bad he is. We knew that he had been sick for the last four months, really sick, but we weren't expecting him to look like that,' she added. Ms Pether said it is not just because of the prison conditions, but that her husband has an illness relating to his digestion. ADVERTISEMENT 'He can't keep any food down beside rice, cereal and potato,' she said. 'He is extremely malnourished and very, very weak.' Mr Pether, who is originally from Australia but had been living with his wife and three children in Elphin, Co Roscommon, before travelling to Iraq, has been unable to receive medical attention since getting bail on Thursday. Mr Pether was employed by CME Consulting to create a new headquarters for the Central Bank of Iraq, having previously worked in the Middle East. Following a business dispute between their employer and the Central Bank, Mr Pether and his Egyptian colleague, Khaled Zaghloul, were invited to a meeting with the governor of the Central Bank, where they were arrested and later charged with fraud. Ms Pether said her husband should never have been there in the first place. She referenced three international court rulings and a UN report stating that he is innocent, a hostage, in arbitrary detention and was subjected to torture. The family have been in contact with him on video since his release on bail on Thursday, the first such time since his detention in April, 2021. 'It was nice to see him [on video], as much as it was a shock to talk to him face-to-face for the first time in four years,' Ms Pether said. Until this week, the only contact they had were phone calls lasting just a few minutes once or twice a week, at irregular times. 'You constantly carry the phone with you terrified to put it down because it would be the only chance for him to give up information so that we could try and fight for him from the outside,' Ms Pether said. 'I would be afraid to put it down to have a shower. I would try to have the shower really early or late at night.' The couple have three children, Flynn (22) Oscar (20) and Nala (12). 'They have grown up significantly since he was taken and they have missed so much with him. It was a really big shock for them to see their dad looking like that,' Ms Pether said. She credited the Irish Government, which she said has gone 'above and beyond', with the Australian government also providing consular assistance. Mr Pether, who is currently in Baghdad, spoke to Tánaiste Simon Harris following his release on Thursday night. Taoiseach Micheál Martin, speaking yesterday, described it as a 'very distressing' and 'upsetting' situation for the family, adding that he is worried about Mr Pether's well-being. 'The Government has been making continuing efforts for quite a long number of years now. I believe this is a good first step,' he said. 'He's an Australian citizen, which has been a complicating factor in all of this.' On the Irish Government's efforts to get her husband home, Ms Pether said: 'Just keep pushing. Keep helping. Please keep helping.'
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Desree Pether says Australian engineer Robert Pether 'unrecognisable' after release from Iraqi prison
Australian man Robert Pether is "unrecognisable" after his late-night release from an Iraqi jail, according to his wife and family who have spoken to him since he entered a safe house in a secret location in Baghdad. The 50-year-old engineer had been languishing behind bars for four years before Iraqi authorities decided to release him on bail on Thursday night local time, along with his colleague Khalid Zaghoul Radwan. His family has held grave concerns for him, repeatedly calling for his release on humanitarian grounds as his physical and mental health deteriorated. "He's barely able to walk, he's very weak," his wife Desree told ABC News from the family home in Ireland. "He's unrecognisable to look at him — if you looked at him and looked at his passport photo, you would think it was two different men. He looks like a 70-year-old." Mrs Pether said her husband was able to speak to his children soon after his release. "They're just so numb at this point, there's been so many blows and I think until we actually get him home and we can physically hug him and he's here in front of us, it'll still be a bit surreal for them." Mr Pether and Mr Radwan were jailed on what their families and lawyers have long argued were trumped-up fraud charges, relating to their work as contractors on the construction of the new Central Bank of Iraq headquarters in Baghdad. Both men maintain their innocence, and Mr Pether insists he was forced to sign a confession written for him in Arabic — a language he does not speak. A UN inquiry found there was evidence the men had been tortured prior to their convictions. Despite being freed from jail, the two men remain subject to travel bans as part of their bail restrictions. The specific details of those restrictions are unclear, and are unlikely to be revealed until next week, after the Eid al-Adha holidays in Iraq. It is feared the travel ban may coincide with further investigations into the men's conduct, with fresh money-laundering charges being considered by Iraqi authorities — allegations the Pether family have roundly rejected. "All we know is that he is out of the prison, and I guess in a state of limbo," Mrs Pether said. "But at least he can communicate with us a lot more, and hopefully we can keep his spirits up and he can get some counselling as well. "It's a small step in the right direction, but we're very, very worried about his health." Last month, Mrs Pether said the family were worried he had developed lung cancer whilst in jail. The family is also in a perilous financial situation, having been forced to try to sell their home in Ireland to pay for Mr Pether's legal fees and now the cost of his accommodation. "We really just need to get him out of there and back to Ireland or Australia where he can get the appropriate medical care that he needs so desperately," Mrs Pether said. Despite Mr Pether being an Australian citizen, the family has previously reached out to the Irish government for assistance in lobbying for his release, concerned Australian officials were not pushing his case hard enough. Ireland's Tánaiste, or deputy prime minister, Simon Harris, released a statement saying he had spoken directly with Mr Pether. "We will not rest until we get him back home to Roscommon and to his family," he posted on X. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong also welcomed his release. "I know the personal toll Mr Pether's detention has taken on him and his family and hope this news brings a measure of relief after years of distress," she said in a statement. "While Mr Pether remains subject to legal proceedings in Iraq, this is a positive development and follows persistent Australian government advocacy over many years."
Irish Times
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Robert Pether's wife hopes his release from Iraqi prison will end ‘living nightmare'
An Irish resident who has been in jail in Iraq for the last four years is 'unrecognisable', his wife, Desree Pether, has said. Robert Pether, originally from Australia, was released on bail on Thursday. He was arrested in April 2021 along with an Egyptian colleague Khalid Radwan on suspicion of theft. Mr Pether has been held in a cell with 20 other prisoners. The United Nations says it has been an arbitrary detention. The arrest arose out of a contract dispute. Mr Pether was an engineer working for the Dubai-based engineering firm CME Consulting on rebuilding Iraq's Central Bank headquarters in Baghdad. READ MORE His wife said Mr Pether is 'very sick at the moment' and she wants to bring him back to Ireland. The couple bought a former convent in Elphin, Co Roscommon, five years ago with a view to turning into a herbal therapy centre. She is an Irish citizen through her Dublin-born father. Last night she saw him for the first time in four years on video and it was a 'shock'. 'I was very happy to see him – but also to see the state of him, he was completely unrecognisable'. [ Robert Pether released on bail after four years in Iraqi jail Opens in new window ] 'It's a shock to the system to see how he has declined. He's not well at all. He needs to come home to get the proper medical care he needs.' Ms Pether said it has been a 'a living nightmare' to try and get her husband out from jail. She wants to get a travel ban on Mr Pether lifted so he can return to Ireland. 'I'm hoping there is light at the end of the tunnel. I'm hoping we can get through this. It's been beyond frustrating. It's not over. It's one small step in the right direction,' she told the RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland programme. He has lost a lot of weight as he has been unable to eat properly since being incarcerated, she said. The couple have three children, Flynn, Oscar and daughter Nala. Tánaiste and Minster for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris welcomed Mr Pether's release. Robert Pether with his wife, Desree, who lives in Elphin with their children He was told yesterday evening by Iraq's foreign minister Fuad Hussein that Mr Pether was being released unconditionally. 'This is very welcome news in what has been a long and distressing saga for Robert's wife, three children and his wider family and friends,' the Tánaiste said.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Australian Robert Pether released from Iraqi prison four years after being arbitrarily detained
Australian engineer Robert Pether has been released from his Iraq jail cell more than four years after he was arbitrarily detained. Pether was working on a project to help build the new headquarters for the Central Bank of Iraq when he was detained in Baghdad in April 2021. He had flown in for a meeting with bank officials to resolve a dispute they were having with his engineering firm, CME Consulting, over the project. Pether was later sentenced and fined over allegations that his firm spent money that should have gone to an architect and a subcontractor. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email In a report in March 2022, the United Nations working group on arbitrary detention found Pether had been arbitrarily detained in breach of international law. It also heard allegations that Pether and his Egyptian colleague's trials were compromised and that he had been subjected to torture-like practices. The body called for their immediate and unconditional release. After more than four years in prison, Pether has now been released. Pether's wife, Desree, welcomed the development and said her family were 'grateful to everyone who contributed to this happening'. But she also warned her husband remains trapped in Iraq due to a travel ban, and urgently needs medical care. 'He's unrecognisable,' she told Guardian Australia. 'So frail and weak. He needs urgent medical care and that's not possible in Iraq.' The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the Australian government had raised the case with Iraqi authorities more than 200 times. 'I want to thank Australian officials for their tireless work on Mr Pether's case, including Australia's special envoy who travelled to Iraq in recent weeks to negotiate for this outcome,' she said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The case has prompted prime ministerial intervention, with Anthony Albanese raising Pether's detention with then Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in 2022. In 2022, the Guardian obtained an emotional letter from Pether to his family, penned from behind bars. The letter warned his family that his prognosis was 'bleak' and that he was facing a potential 'death sentence'. Pether also wrote of his daily torment about how he should break it to his children that he might not be coming home. 'How do you tell a little girl who loves unicorns and cats that her daddy will not be coming home? How do you tell your children that you are proud of them, but will not be sharing the accolades (and pitfalls) of their lives with them?,' Pether wrote. 'And toughest of all, how do you tell your wife, who is very much the other half of you, that you will not be keeping the promise you made to grow old together?'
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Irish Examiner
Robert Pether 'unrecognisable' after four-years in Iraqi prison, says wife
The wife of an Irish-based engineer who has been released after serving four years in an Iraqi prison says she was shocked by how much his health has deteriorated, after speaking with him on a video call. Desree Pether's husband Robert has been in prison in Iraq since April 7, 2021, after being arrested on fraud charges following a contractual dispute involving his employer over the building of a new Central Bank building in Iraq. Mr Pether, an Australian native, had been living in Elphin, Co Roscommon, with his wife and children before his arrest. He and and an Egyptian colleague were detained after being summoned to a meeting in Baghdad to discuss the ongoing project. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Desree said she had urged him not to return to Baghdad while the dispute was unresolved. She said however that he had been worried about his colleagues there and 'didn't not want to go back and resolve it'. She spoke with him on a video call on Thursday after his release on bail. However, he remains under a travel ban and cannot yet return home. She said that he was 'completely unrecognisable' and said: 'It is a shock to the system to see how far he has declined. He is not well at all and he really needs to just come home so that he can get the proper medical care that he needs.' She said he has fainted 'a few times in the last couple of months due to the fact that he is not eating properly because he can't keep anything down so if he fainted, he had a bunch of people in the cell looking after him and giving him tea with honey to try to help him so it was the best of a bad situation.' Reflecting on her campaign for his release, she said: 'It has been beyond frustrating, it has been a living nightmare every day, 18 hours a day, seven days a week and it's not over.' She explained: 'It is one small step in the right direction finally after over four years. It was four years in April. It is exhausting and I would like to just lie down and just sleep for a year but it's not over and we still need to get that travel ban lifted.' She said she remains unsure what steps are needed to remove the ban. 'We still have another major battle ahead to get him home and until he is actually on a plane out of airspace and on his way, I don't think we will actually breathe properly and let go of all the angst.' His release was confirmed on Thursday evening by Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Harris. Mr Harris said it is very welcome news in a long and distressing saga for his family and loved ones. "Foreign Minister Hussein of Iraq, whom I spoke to last month to urge Robert's release, called me this evening with the news," the foreign affairs minister said in a statement. "I was informed that Robert has been released on bail and for the moment he remains in Iraq, but I welcomed this as a first step to his being allowed to return to his family in Roscommon." Read More Irish-based Australian released after four years in Iraqi jail
