The family of a businessman arrested in Iraq say the Australian embassy assured him he would be safe before he travelled to Baghdad to resolve a contractual dispute with the nation’s central bank.
Mechanical engineer Robert Pether, 46, was detained three weeks ago in Iraq after travelling from Dubai on behalf of his firm to revive a stalled project to build the Central Bank of Iraq’s headquarters.
He was held in solitary confinement and given no access to a phone or computer, his family alleges, and was not told what he was charged with or the reasons for his detention.
Pether’s wife, Desree, said her husband had had concerns about his safety before travelling to Iraq and called the Australian embassy to discuss the situation.
He had been invited back to Iraq by the bank and was assured it was ready to resolve the dispute.
Desree said her husband asked the embassy specifically if there was any risk that they would arrest him. The embassy told him no, according to Desree.
“Three days before he left Dubai he rang the Australian embassy in Baghdad and he explained the situation and he said: ‘My employer is having a dispute with the client. Is it safe for me to travel there for a meeting to resolve the issues? Am I at any risk of being arrested or anything like that?’
“The embassy in Baghdad said: ‘No, no, they can’t do that. You’re fine.’ ”
Pether flew to Baghdad on 1 April, worked for a few days, and then attended the meeting on 7 April. He and a colleague were arrested immediately.
The foreign affairs department was approached for a response.
It said in a statement that it was continuing to seek “urgent consular access” to an Australian detained in Iraq and “remains in contact with his family and lawyer”. The department said it continues to advise Australians not to travel to Iraq due to the “volatile security situation and very high risk of violence, armed conflict, kidnapping and terrorist attack”.
“Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment,” the department said.
Desree said the Australian government had been slow and secretive. They refused to tell her anything about the case due to privacy laws, despite her bringing it to the government’s attention, she said.
Desree said her husband was now being kept alongside his colleague, an Egyptian citizen. The Egyptian government has helped get a phone to the pair, allowing Desree to speak with her husband.
“It’s an absolute horrendous nightmare,” she said. “You never dream [this will happen]. He’s worked in the Middle East for 10 years without any problem.”
Desree believe the bank laid a deliberate trap to lure her husband to Iraq so he could be arrested and used in the contractual dispute.
“He feels so betrayed,” she said. “He went to Italy and a couple of other countries during the pandemic … at great risk to secure materials for the project so that it wouldn’t run behind schedule.
“So he’s given it his all, all this time, and kept it on track and kept everyone safe with Covid and minimised outbreaks and kept it afloat during Covid, and this is what happens.”
The couple have three children, a daughter aged eight, and two sons 15 and 17.
“Our daughter, she’s only eight, she’s a bit oblivious to the ramifications of it,” Desree said. “She just keeps asking: ‘When’s daddy coming home?’ ”
