UN calls for release of Australian engineer detained in Iraq

Report said detention of Dubai resident and Egyptian colleague was in contravention of international law

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  Robert Pether, 46, has been detained in Baghdad since 2021. Photos: Supplied by Desree Pether

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  Australian Robert Pether pictured with his three children.

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  Robert Pether was detained in Baghdad and his family is desperate to understand why.

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  The Central Bank of Iraq building on the shores of the Tigris River in Baghdad was one of the projects Robert Pether was working on in Iraq.

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  Pictures of Robert Pether before and during his detention in Baghdad.

A UN body has called for the immediate release of a Dubai resident who has spent almost a year imprisoned in Iraq over a contract dispute.

Australian engineer Robert Pether was sentenced to five years in jail in August by a court in Baghdad. He also was ordered to pay $12 million along with a colleague, Khaled Radwan, who is also detained.

The 46-year-old, who lived in Dubai with his wife and children, was sentenced over a dispute involving his company’s work for the Iraqi government.

This is a total vindication of Robert and Khaled’s position from the outset. We just want Iraq to now do the right thing

Desree Pether

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) issued a report on Sunday evening describing Mr Pether’s imprisonment as “arbitrary and in contravention of international law”.

“This is a total vindication of Robert and Khaled’s position from the outset. We just want Iraq to now do the right thing,” said Mr Pether’s wife Desree.

The WGAD report said “both men were lured into returning to Iraq on the pretext of assisting in an investigation and have been arbitrarily detained, without any legal basis”.

There was credibility to the allegations that both men were subject to “abusive and coercive interrogations”, according to WGAD, which that stated the evidence obtained at trial was “improperly obtained”.

It also expressed concern that both men were forced to sign statements in the absence of legal counsel.

“The UN has found in no uncertain terms that Robert and Khaled’s arrest was unlawful and arbitrary,” said Peter Griffin, a UK-based human rights lawyer who has been involved in assisting the families obtain UN support.

“The breadth of the decision is very significant, finding multiple breaches of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

The working group urged the Iraqi government to release both men, investigate their detention and compensate them.

The Central Bank of Iraq building on the shores of the Tigris River in Baghdad was one of the projects Robert Pether was working on in Iraq. Zaha Hadid Architects

The case has also been referred to the UN’s special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Mr Pether was detained in April after travelling to Baghdad for what he thought was a routine business meeting.

He was working in Dubai as an engineer for CME Consulting, a company contracted to work on the Central Bank of Iraq’s headquarters on the banks of the Tigris river.

He has remained in custody since being detained at the meeting and several bail attempts were rejected before he was sentenced in August.

CME Consulting has not responded to numerous attempts by email and calls to discuss their employees being behind bars in Iraq.

The dispute involves a $33m contract that was awarded to CME in 2015.

The project was suspended a year later, with plummeting oil prices and Iraq’s war with extremist group ISIS cited as the main reasons.

Worked resumed in 2018 with CME working for 39 for 48 of the months stipulated in the contract.

It received payment for 32 of the months before payments were withheld.

The central bank asked CME to extend the contract by three months to make up for work that was suspended due to the pandemic.

The bank told CME it would not make payments for the extension, which led to the company objecting as it said the suspension was not its decision.

The return of $12m was also requested by the bank for “special payments”.