Dubai resident leaves Iraq after being detained for five years

Australian engineer Robert Pether, 50, was detained in Iraq for five years over a contract dispute. Pether and his Egyptian colleague Khaled Radwan were arrested in Iraq in August 2021 for a business meeting they believed to be routine. They were sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay $12 million, which stemmed from a $33 million contract awarded to their employer, CME, in 2015.

The contract was put on hold in 2016 due to low oil prices and Iraq’s war against ISIS, with work only resuming in 2018. Pether's family resides in Ireland, and he was finally released from prison last year, though he remained in Iraq due to a travel ban. The Australian government expressed satisfaction with Iraq's decision to allow Pether to leave the country.

The Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, commended the efforts of Australian officials and Irish authorities who helped secure Pether's release. Pether and Radwan were released from prison in June last year, and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had already deemed their imprisonment as "arbitrary and contrary to international law" in 2022.