4 days ago
Robert Pether's wife says he's ‘unrecognisable' after release from Iraqi prison
The wife of Robert Pether has said that her husband is unrecognisable, after he was released from an Iraqi prison after four years.
Mr Pether, an Australian national who had been living in Ireland, was detained in Iraq on fraud charges in April 2021, in what the United Nations called an arbitrary detention.
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Mr Pether's wife, Desree, who had been living with him in Co Roscommon for a number of years, said that while she was relieved her husband was freed, he is 'not well at all,' and needs to return home so he can receive proper medical attention.
The wife of Robert Pether has said that her husband is unrecognisable, after he was released from an Iraqi prison after four years.
'I feel like a bus has hit me,' Ms Pether told RTE's Morning Ireland. 'It all happened so late last night; he was released, the paperwork was sorted, it's the end of the work week in Iraq, and now they have Eid, so they were off for the next few days, and so we don't know the exact stipulations on the travel ban. But at least he's out of prison and in a comfortable bed.'
Speaking about her finding out that her husband was released, Ms Pether is unsure when he'll be able to return to Ireland from Iraq, with logistics around keeping him healthy at the moment taking priority as he's taken ill.
'He's very sick at the moment,' she said. 'We really just need to get onto that travel ban as soon as business is back up and running in Iraq, and try to get him home.'
Mr Pether was jailed in Iraq four years ago following a dispute with the Iraqi government while he was helping to build the Iraq Central Bank.
Ms Pether added that she got to speak to her husband late on Thursday night via video link for the first time in four years, but admitted that she received a shock at Mr Pether's condition.
'It was a shock. It was hard to be very happy to see him, but also to see the state of him,' she said. 'He's completely unrecognisable. It's a shock to the system to see how far he has declined.
'He really needs to just come home so he can get the proper medical care he needs.'
Robert Pether with children, from left, Oscar, Flynn and Nala.
As to how her husband will get home, Ms Pether admitted that it's a 'living nightmare' trying to figure out how he'll get home — saying '18 hours a day, seven days a week… [his release] is just one small step in the right direction finally.
'Until he's actually on the plane out of airspace and on his way, I don't think we will breathe properly and let go of all the angst.'
Mr Pether was detained while working on the Iraqi Central Bank in Baghdad, but a dispute arose between the bank and the company Mr Pether worked for, with the bank accusing Mr Pether and his colleague Khalid Radwan, from Egypt, of stealing money.
The pair were sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay a $12million penalty, but the UN accused the Iraqi regime of arbitrarily detaining the men.
Mr Pether still faces a travel ban from Iraq, with the hopes that he will return to Ireland soon.
