{
  "id": 14705371,
  "title": "'You have to keep fighting': Former Dubai resident gives first interview after five-year detention in Iraq",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/15/you-have-to-keep-fighting-former-dubai-resident-gives-first-interview",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-15T13:07:23.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The National Business",
    "slug": "the-national-business",
    "url": "https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uae/2026/10/15/never-give-up-ex-dubai-resident-gives-first-interview-after-five-year-detention-in-iraq/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Robert Pether, a former Dubai resident, has shared his harrowing experience after spending five years in Iraqi prison for a contract dispute. The Australian engineer was detained in Baghdad in April 2021 and released last June, but was barred from leaving the country due to financial claims. Pether is now adjusting to freedom and determined to fight for vindication, emphasizing the importance of not giving up in the face of arbitrary detention. He will undergo surgery for high-risk skin cancer, which worsened while in prison. Pether and his Egyptian co-worker, Khaled Radwan, were imprisoned for four months after being fined $12 million. He seeks accountability for the \"huge injustice\" he suffered and urges others not to give in to despair.",
  "summary": "A former Dubai resident detained for five years in Iraq over a contract dispute will take time to adjust to freedom and is determined to fight for vindication after the “dark times” he endured. Australian engineer Robert Pether was released from prison in Baghdad in June last year but was barred from leaving the country due to financial claims linked to a case over a contract dispute between his…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}