Australian engineer Robert Pether is allowed to leave Iraq after spending more than four years in a prison cell in Baghdad, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed on Monday. Pether was in transit to Ireland on Monday, where he had previously lived with his wife and children.
Wong stated that the Australian government welcomed the Iraqi government's decision to allow P to leave Iraq on that day. The minister had spoken with P immediately before his departure from Baghdad and expressed satisfaction that he was now free to resume his life and reunite with his family. She highlighted that the outcome followed persistent advocacy by the Australian government, including at the highest levels of government, and continuous consular assistance to P and his family.
P was arrested in April 2021 in connection with a business dispute between his company and the Iraqi government. His company was constructing a new headquarters for the central bank. He was detained in Baghdad along with his colleague Khalid Radwan after they travelled to a meeting with bank officials to resolve a dispute with his engineering firm, CME Consulting. P was later convicted and fined on the grounds that his company had spent money that was intended for the architect and subcontractor.
The family of Robert P stated that they "lived in hell" since he was arrested without charge in April 2021. They feared he would be killed, describing the arrest and ongoing detention as a living nightmare. P's health deteriorated significantly, leading to his release from prison in the middle of last year, but he was prohibited from leaving the country.
In a report in March 2022, a UN working group found that P was detained in violation of international law. The body also determined that the arrest constituted a "disappearance" and that it may have involved forms of torture. The working group stated that it had received complaints that P "was exposed to extreme cold, threats of death, humiliation and various forms of psychological abuse".
In its report, the working group noted that P was detained in a cell measuring two by two metres with lights kept on continuously. It was alleged that he was blindfolded, questioned, shouted at, threatened, and insulted, and shown torture chambers. The working group raised serious questions about the conduct of P's trial, and the 2022 report stated that his evidence had been mistranslated to indicate guilt. It was noted that even during the trial, "P and Radwan did not have a clear understanding of their charges", and the charges were dropped and replaced with others during the hearing. It was concluded that the violations of the right to a fair trial and due process were such that the deprivation of liberty of P and Radwan was arbitrary.
In 2022, the Guardian received an emotional letter from Robert P to his family, written from behind bars. In the letter, he warned that his prognosis was "dismal" and that he was facing a potential "death sentence". P wrote about the possibility of telling his family that he might not come home. "How do you tell a girl who loves unicorns and cats that her father will not come home? How do you tell your children that you are proud of them, but that you will not share in the praise (and pitfalls) of their lives?" he wrote. "And most painfully, how do you tell your wife, who is your other half, that you will not keep the promise you made to grow old together?"
His wife Desree had previously criticised the efforts of Australian officials to secure P's release. The Australian government stated that the case had been raised with Iraqi authorities more than 200 times. Following P's release from prison in 2025, Desree stated from Ireland that she was "grateful to everyone who contributed to this happening".
