Desree Pether only found out at 11pm on Thursday that her husband Robert was being released from an Iraqi jail.
Her phone started pinging but the first call she took was from her husband speaking on his lawyer’s phone from Baghdad. He has been released on bail.
The couple arranged a video call for a short time afterwards and she was shocked at what she and the couple’s three children saw.
They are originally from Australia and moved permanently to Ireland in 2019. They bought an old convent in Elphin, Co Roscommon with a view to turning it into a herbal therapy centre.
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Mr Pether, who is a tall man, went into jail in April 2021 at a weight of 115kg (18 stone) and emerged 30kg lighter.
“It was a huge shock,” she said. “We haven’t seen him since he was arrested. He looked like one of those prisoners being released from Gaza.
“He is emaciated. He turned 50 in April, but he looks around 70. He is completely unrecognisable”
Mr Pether was working as a mechanical engineer on rebuilding the Iraqi Central Bank when he was arrested along with a colleague from CME Consulting, the Dubai-based company they were working for. CME was in dispute with the bank over payment for the project.
A 2022 United Nations report determined that the case contravened international law. Both men had been subjected to “abusive and coercive” interrogations.
In February 2023, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ruled that the bank was at fault in the dispute with CME.
The Iraqi government lost the cases on appeal, but the two prisoners still weren’t released.
Ms Pether said her husband has been very sick over the last four months with a mystery stomach ailment and struggles to hold down food.
She said Iraqi doctors have been unable to find the source of the ailment and he continues to lose weight. Nevertheless, he is not allowed to leave Iraq.
“It’s absolutely astonishing there is a travel ban when he is this sick,” his wife says. “He is extremely malnourished and in a very bad condition. He needs to come home.”
Their plan to set up a herbal therapy centre has had to be put on hold and she sold the couple’s car “so that we can eat”.
She said the case has cost her family €140,000 in legal fees.
[ Robert Pether released on bail after four years in Iraqi jailOpens in new window ]
Speaking in Cork, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said every effort will be made to get Mr Pether home to his family in Roscommon as quickly as possible.
“I don’t want to say things that may in any way hinder his eventual arrival back to Ireland but I believe this is a good first step,” he said.
“We have to work very hard with countries such as Iraq and others in terms the treatment of Irish citizens. He is an Australian citizen which is a complicating factor in all of this but both ourselves and the Australian government have been working together in terms of endeavouring to get him out.”
Mr Martin said that he remains concern about Mr Pether’s health.
“I certainly do (share the concern of his wife) and the knock on impact, the significant impact, on the well being of the family. I have met (his wife) Desree and I think its very upsetting. It is very difficult as she said herself this morning to see him now in terms of what the impact of prison has had on his life.”
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris was told on Thursday evening by Iraq’s foreign minister Fuad Hussein that Mr Pether was being released.
“This is very welcome news in what has been a long and distressing saga for Robert‘s wife, three children and his wider family and friends,” the Tánaiste said.
Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong said the release was a “positive development” after years of “persistent” advocacy and noted, “I know the personal toll Mr Pether’s detention has taken on him and his family and hope this news brings a measure of relief after years of distress.”
