The U.S. hostage envoy calls for the release an Australian engineer held hostage by Iraq’s Central Bank to get out of a debt to the hostage’s company. CN Live! talks to his wife & an Australian senator about the case.
It’s been four years that Australian citizen Robert Pether has been languishing in an Iraqi jail, arbitrarily detained, according to the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, since April 7, 2021.
On that day Pether, the lead engineer for the construction of the new Iraq Central Bank building was taken hostage, along with an Egyptian colleague, in relation to a contractual dispute between the bank and their employer, Cardno Middle East (CME). The dispute is over an unpaid bill by the Central Bank to CME, the building contractor for the project.
The Central Bank has refused to pay the CME construction company for work performed on the new building and is demanding what is essentially a ransom in the same amount as the payment due for Pether and his colleague’s release.
The two senior employees were invited in April 2021 to attend a reconciliation meeting in Iraq, after which they were unexpectedly arrested by a dozen police. The employees were then charged with fraud, jailed and fined $13 million, roughly the same amount the bank was in arrears.
There have since been three rulings against the Iraq Central Bank, at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Court of Arbitration in Paris, and at the Amsterdam Court of Appeal in the Netherlands.
But Pether and his colleague Khaled Radwan continue to be held in harsh conditions, as “leverage” says the U.N. Working Group for a future resolution with their employer CME – and they are to be held “indefinitely”, says an order sent by the bank to a local judge.
Pether was due for release on Jan. 8, but that did not happen. Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who had said last November that she would be concerned if Pether was not released as expected, issued a further statement on X on April 7, the fourth anniversary of his detention, saying:
“Australian citizen Robert Pether has now been in prison in Iraq for four years. He has served the custodial sentence imposed on him by the Iraqi courts. It’s time for him to be returned to his family. The Australian Government will continue to advocate for Mr Pether’s release.”
The Foreign Minister’s statement was reposted by Adam Boehler, the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage response, quote tweeting Wong, saying:
“We stand with our Australian partners in calling for the release of Robert Pether, following the end of his custodial sentence. We hope to see him reunited with his family as soon as possible.”
The Pether family reports that the Egyptian and Irish governments have also made representations and that they have provided extensive support and advice.
Interview with Desree Pether, wife of Robert, and Senator David Shoebridge. Hosts: Cathy Vogan and Elizabeth Vos. Producer: Cathy Vogan.
Cathy Vogan and Robert Pether. (CN Live!)
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