A man locked up in an Iraqi jail is desperately begging to be sent home to Ireland on the fourth anniversary of his incarceration.
Construction engineer Robert Pether, 49, was jailed in Baghdad on April 7, 2021, in a €20 million contract row between his Dubai-based employer and the Central Bank of Iraq.
Rob’s wife and children in Roscommon have campaigned tirelessly to "get him out, get him free, get him home" and said "before it's too late".
Today, in a direct message to Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Rob sent an appeal to the Irish Mirror from behind bars in his military prison.
He said: "While I am extremely grateful for the Government's help, I would ask if they can do more."
Rob, who is originally from Australia, told us: "There is a UN report from March 2022 and subsequently three international rulings, all of which have deemed me to be innocent and being used as leverage in a commercial dispute.
"When we first appealed to the Irish Government for help, it was on a humanitarian basis, and because my family is Irish and I lived in Ireland with them.
"It would be deeply appreciated if the Government could say that it is not OK to hold an innocent employee for leverage, especially given that they have all the evidence that they need to be confident that I should never have been arrested."
Rob’s wife Desree, 53, and three kids Flynn, 21, Oscar, 19, and Nala, 12, live at Elphin in Co Roscommon.
Rob was due to be freed on January 8 past – but he was detained on fresh charges; including money laundering, that were ridiculed by his Irish legal team.
Rob’s lawyer, human rights expert Peter Griffin, said: "In the minds of the Iraqis, Rob is guilty of money laundering because he has taken salary from a company that they say — and we disagree — has defrauded the Iraqi state.
"Even if something illegal had happened, which we dispute, Rob has already served a prison sentence for the past four years.
"Keeping him in jail is just ridiculous, confected and ludicrous."
He accused the Australian government of believing the narrative that had been "propounded by the Iraqis, instead of the narrative that has been stated conclusively by the United Nations Working Group for Arbitrary Detention."
The UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention claimed Rob was "forcibly disappeared" and called for his immediate freedom.
Rob was held in Baghdad’s maximum security - Al-Muthanna military detention centre - where conditions were condemned as appalling by the UN Commission on Human Rights.
After his initial arrest in 2021, Taoiseach Micheal Martin told the Dail that the State "will do everything we possibly can".
The Department of Foreign Affairs told the Irish Mirror that officials are in regular contact with the family.
Rob’s traumatised wife Desree fears her husband could die in prison and has lodged appeals with Iraq’s embassy in Dublin.
Desree fears for Rob’s health and worries that the melanoma – the most serious type of skin cancer – that he survived in 2005 has exhibited signs of returning.
She and Rob have expressed fears that time could be running out and begged for help because he may not survive much longer.
Rob said in a message provided by Desree: "Please help me and get me home. I just feel abandoned. I am sick and worried I will not survive this ordeal much longer."
He appealed to his supporters to "do everything they possibly can to get me home to my family" in Ireland.
Desree revealed that Rob has lost half his body weight and posted his words on Instagram: "I am being held as a hostage in Iraq.
"I miss my family so much. I've missed so many milestones.
"Our youngest two boys have finished school and are now young men. Our daughter was aged eight when I was arrested.
"I've missed Christmases and Easters, multiple birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and so much more. I want to go home."
He added: "I was trapped when I was invited to Iraq for a meeting to resolve a contract dispute between my employer and our client, the Central Bank of Iraq.
"I was forced to sign a pre-written, incriminating confession in Arabic, a language I don't read or understand, after being locked in a cupboard, dehydrated and starved."
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