Key facts
- Australian engineer Robert Pether has left Iraq after five years of detention.
- Pether was arrested in 2021 on fraud charges amid a contract dispute with the Central Bank of Iraq.
- He was sentenced to five years in prison and a joint fine of $12 million.
- The UN determined Pether's detention was illegal and arbitrary.
- An international court ruled Iraq's central bank was at fault in the dispute and ordered it to pay $13 million.
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed Pether's departure and expressed pleasure at his freedom.
Australian engineer Robert Pether has departed Iraq, five years after his arrest and subsequent detention on fraud charges. The 51-year-old was jailed in 2021 alongside his colleague Khalid Radwan following a dispute between his consulting firm, CME Consulting, and the Central Bank of Iraq. The UN has since declared Pether's detention illegal and arbitrary, citing "abusive and coercive" interrogations. An International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Court of Arbitration ruling in 2023 found the Central Bank of Iraq at fault in the business disagreement and ordered it to pay $13 million to CME. Pether had been conditionally released from prison last year but was prevented from leaving the country. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed his departure, stating that "many years of persistent advocacy" by Australian and Irish authorities contributed to the outcome. His wife, Desree Pether, expressed immense relief, describing the ordeal as an "absolute nightmare."