A Dubai resident detained for five years over a contract dispute has left Iraq to be reunited with his family.
Australian engineer Robert Pether, 50, was released from prison in Baghdad in June last year but had remained in Iraq because he was barred from leaving owing to financial claims linked to the case.
Mr Pether's wife, Desree, told The National on Monday morning that her husband was due to arrive in Ireland, where the family live, at about 9.25am local time.
"The Australian government welcomes the Iraqi government's decision to allow Robert Pether to leave Iraq today," said Penny Wong, Australia's Foreign Minister. "I spoke to Mr Pether shortly before his departure from Baghdad and am pleased he is now free to move forward with his life and be reunited with his family. Mr Pether had been imprisoned in Iraq for more than four years and was later subject to travel restrictions that prevented him from leaving the country.
"I thank the Australian officials whose tireless work helped achieve this outcome, as well as the Irish authorities for their close co-operation throughout this process. I wish Mr Pether and his family all the very best as they reunite."
Mr Pether and his Egyptian co-worker Khaled Radwan, who both lived in Dubai at the time, were jailed in August 2021 and fined $12 million after a contract dispute between his employer and authorities in Baghdad. Mr Radwan has also left Iraq.
They were released from prison last year. In 2025, the office of the US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs pushed for his release. That followed a call from Ms Wong for Mr Pether to be allowed to return home to his family.
Since his release from prison, Mr Pether had stayed either with friends or in hotels, with the cost of food and accommodation falling on him and his family.
UN experts expressed “grave concern” earlier this year over the health of Mr Pether. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement in June, highlighting the “particularly alarming” situation given Mr Pether's declining health, which was compounded by a lack of access to specialist medical care and the psychological toll of his “prolonged detention and uncertainty”.
Arrested over contract dispute
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a report in 2022 describing Mr Pether’s detention as “arbitrary and in contravention of international law”. A ruling in 2023 by the International Chamber of Commerce's International Court of Arbitration said Iraq's central bank was to blame for the contractual dispute.
Mr Pether and Mr Radwan were arrested when they travelled to Iraq for what they thought was a routine business meeting. Employed as an engineer in Dubai for CME, Mr Pether was contracted to work on the central bank's headquarters near the Tigris River.
The men were detained during the meeting. They each received a five-year jail sentence and were ordered by an Iraqi court to pay $12 million. The dispute was over a $33 million contract awarded to CME in 2015.
The project was put on hold a year later, with plummeting oil prices and Iraq’s war against ISIS given as the main reasons. Operations resumed in 2018, with CME working for 39 of the 48 months as set out in the contract.
Payment was received for 32 of those months before it was withheld. CME was asked by the central bank to extend the contract by three months to make up for work suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Australian government said previously that it recognised the significant impact Mr Pether's detention had on him and his family and pledged to continue to offer consular support in an effort to enable him to leave Iraq.
