Australian father being freed from Iraq five years after ‘arbitrary detention’

Australian engineer Robert Pether has left Iraq after more than five years in detention following a protracted campaign to secure his release.

Pether, 51, and his Egyptian colleague Khalid Zaghloul were arrested in April 2021 in Baghdad while working on the $1 billion project to build the new headquarters of the Central Bank of Iraq.

Australian officials on Monday escorted Pether to the airport, where he flew to Ireland to reunite with his wife and children.

In a statement, Pether said he was unable to find the words to express what his long-awaited return home means but noted that it did not correct the injustice that has happened to him.

“Our convictions have not been overturned. Neither of us has been exonerated,” he said.

“We were innocent when we were taken on 7th April 2021, and we remain innocent today.

“What is the point of a country accepting international human rights obligations if its authorities can simply disregard them when they become inconvenient?

“Coming home is not exoneration. And being allowed to leave is not justice.”

An Iraqi judge found Pether guilty of deception in August 2021 and fined him $US12 million ($17.21 million), although Pether’s lawyers said the Australian should not be held responsible for the actions of the engineering company CME Consulting.

Pether said he was subject to a money laundering investigation that involved threats, coercion and attempts to implicate his family.

He was released on bail in June 2025 but was forced to remain in Iraq for legal proceedings.

During this time, Pether said he was “hours away from death” with his body shutting down after months of critical illness and pain.

“I didn’t have my passport, visa or identity documents, and I had no ability to move around freely or safely, leave the country or even go to a hospital,” he said.

“Travel bans prevented me from returning to my family and from accessing the medical treatment I desperately needed outside Iraq.”

His wife, Desree, had been demanding his release ever since, asserting it was a travesty of justice and that his imprisonment amounted to arbitrary detention.

His health deteriorated during his imprisonment. He lost a lot of weight and has battled cancer. 

Pether’s 23-year-old son Flynn, who has not seen his father since he was 17, said the Dublin-based family had been anxious right up until he boarded the plane.

“We initially said that we weren't going to be excited until the plane took off, and he's now cleared Iraqi airspace and he's well on his way to Dublin now,” Flynn said.

Flynn said his father’s emotions were similarly swirling. 

“He’s excited. He’s saying that all the emotions are starting to hit him all at once, so you can imagine that this is somewhat like a huge relief for him, but also there’s probably a certain element of trauma attached to it as well,” he said.

Flynn said his father had been the victim of a terrible injustice.

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“All the UN reports agree … that he is a completely innocent man who has been  wrongly imprisoned for the last five and a half years, without any real evidence in a kangaroo court,” he said.

“It is completely wrong. It shouldn’t be allowed to keep going on like this, and we are looking forward to the next chapter, to rebuild our lives of what was taken and robbed from us in the last five and a half years.”

He said the $17.21 million fine had been quashed as part of his father’s release after the Iraqi government had been insisting that Pether or the company pay up.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said she was relieved Pether had been freed.

“The Australian government welcomes the decision by the Iraqi government to allow Mr Pether to leave,” she said.

“I spoke with Robert Pether this morning.

“I expressed to him our relief that he had been released and my hope that he recovers, but most importantly, I wished him well for his reunion with the family and for his recovery in the future.”

Wong made clear the Australian government does not make payments in relation to alleged offences.

“But what we do do is make sustained advocacy a part of how we engage on these issues, and that’s what we’ve done,” she said.