Iraq frees Australian engineer after four years, but keeps travel ban

BAGHDAD: Iraq has released an Australian mechanical engineer on bail who was detained for more than four years over a dispute with the central bank, authorities said Friday, though he remains barred from leaving the country.Robert Pether was working for an engineering company contracted to oversee the construction of the bank's new Baghdad headquarters, according to a United Nations report, when he was arrested in April 2021 alongside his Egyptian deputy Khalid Radwan.A report from a working group for the UN Human Rights Council said the arrests stemmed from a contractual dispute over "alleged failure to execute certain payments".Both men were sentenced to five years in prison and fined $12 million, the working group said.A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Pether, in his fifties, was released "due to his poor health".Australian media have previously reported that the family suspected Pether had developed lung cancer in prison and that he had undergone surgery for skin cancer.The official declined to comment on the fate of Radwan.

Australia's ABC broadcaster quoted the country's foreign minister, Penny Wong, as welcoming the release and saying the Australian government had raised the issue with Iraqi authorities more than 200 times.Simon Harris, foreign minister for Ireland, where Pether's family lives, posted on X: "This evening, I have been informed of the release on bail of Robert Pether, whose imprisonment in Iraq has been a case of great concern."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."Speaking to Irish national broadcaster RTE, Pether's wife, Desree Pether, said her husband was "not well at all" and "really needs to just come home so he can get the proper medical care he needs"."He's completely unrecognisable. It's a shock to the system to see how far he has declined," she said.