‘Released but not free’: Elphin family in fight for father’s return home

When 50-year-old Robert Pether was released from an Iraqi prison in June, after four and a half years of incarceration, he was unrecognisable to his tearful wife Desree and their three children, Flynn, Oscar and Nala.

A talented and well-respected engineer and resident of Elphin, the Australian native and his Egyptian colleague Khalid Radwan travelled to a meeting at the Iraqi Central Bank to resolve a dispute, but were arrested and jailed.

He was released in early June but had no passport, no visa to allow him to work or earn an income, and no way of going to see a doctor, despite his poor health, stage two starvation, weakness, blackouts and low blood sugar levels.

“He should have been straight on a plane and back to Ireland and into hospital but instead he was left to try and find accommodation with no ID, and pay for accommodation for at least 15 weeks, which is hugely expensive,” Desree told the Roscommon Herald.

After nine weeks, he managed to get some form of ID from Australia and, fortunately, his wife is knowledgeable in naturopathy and herbal medicine and knew enough about nutrition to help him get back on some form of eating plan.

“He’d been chronically sick, critically ill, for six months before his release, and in and out of public hospitals in Iraq,” she told the Roscommon Herald.

“That’s bad enough as it is, but then it’s a special section of public hospitals for prisoners. So he was subjected to the most horrific medical procedures over the last six months before he was released.” When he was released, and his family saw him on a video call for the first time in four and a half years, they were in tears at the sight of his emaciated frame, with Desree stating that he was so thin, his teeth were protruding, as were the bones in his wrists.

“It was just horrific to see. He was really muscly and strong. Now he’s got no muscle and no strength. He’s very weak and can only sort of move around a small area. So it’s absolutely devastating, mentally and physically, what this has done to him,” she said.

“It’s like an explosion has gone off in our family and we have suffered through this for four and a half years - the injustice, the begging people to help that should help him and aren’t, or are not doing enough for an innocent man trying to prove his innocence.” Desree has been fighting for him on the outside, visiting the Iraq Embassies in Dublin, in London, in Canberra, Australia, repeating the same pleas for help over and over.

“He was forced to sign a pre-written incriminating statement in Arabic. All of the statements are perjury - there is a tonne of information that proves he’s innocent, that he never should have been arrested in the first place,” she said.

“There were three international court rulings that say his employer is innocent and the Central Bank is guilty. And there’s a UN report that says he’s being held as leverage and he’s in arbitrary detention. So they’re absolutely ignoring all that.

“He’s been a hostage since the day he was arrested and he is still, and they’re literally vultures picking his bones now.” Robert has missed out on so much time with his family as a result of his incarceration. His daughter, Nala, has been making videos every year on her birthday, asking the Australian government to do more to help her father.

“She wanted to do lots and lots, especially in the beginning and we agreed that she could do a video every year on her birthday, but they’ve never been acknowledged,” said Desree.

Her first clip was made before her 10th birthday and, in just a few weeks, Nala will turn 13 and once again make a video begging for her father’s return to their home in Elphin.

“He could still pick her up when he left. She’s in secondary school now and he’s missed that. He missed Flynn graduating from secondary school, Flynn graduating from university. He missed Oscar graduating from school. He’s missed their 18ths. Nala turns 13 in two weeks, you know, she’s not a little girl anymore,” said Desree.

“He’s lost so much. So much life has just gone past that he’s missed. It just tears my heart out. It’s the pain that this has caused my kids that causes my rage.” The family moved to Elphin just before the Covid-19 pandemic began, and so they didn’t have time to establish a normal life in County Roscommon before lockdown happened. But that lockdown brings up cherished memories of family time before this traumatic event.

“He was actually home for nearly five months because travel was so difficult and he was working remotely. It was the most beautiful summer and it was just lovely. And then we got our dog, Bentley, and it was just a lovely summer to have him at home, because he had been away for work so much,” Desree recalled.

Unfortunately, she’s now looking at selling the family home in Elphin in the hopes of meeting some of the costs incurred while Robert has been in Iraq.

“Our backs are absolutely to the wall at the moment. I had to sell my car nearly five months ago, so that has been really hard on the kids over the summer. It’s very isolating not having a car or any mode of transport to get around in the middle of Roscommon,” she said.

“And so that’s been really hard, and we’ve been selling off bits and bobs to survive. But I’ve held on as long as I possibly could. We have to release some cash because we’ve got none and we’ve paid out probably €120,000 in expenses, like legals and travel for me to go to Australia and fight the Australian government to fight for him, and going to London before the Iraqi Embassy was open in Dublin.

“That’s all expense and we have nothing left - nothing. It’s very, very hard and it absolutely breaks my heart because I had huge plans for that house.” Desree had high hopes of setting up a healing place for women when she finished her doctorate in herbal medicine. She hoped to empower women with workshops and events, but is now “very sad to have to let that dream go”.

Right now Robert is “just swinging in the breeze, begging for people to do more”, but Desree and her children are hoping that media coverage in the near future will herald his return home to his family.

There is a fundraising campaign running in an attempt to recoup some of the expenses the family has incurred in this fight for Robert’s freedom. That campaign can be found at chuffed.org/project/147650-help-save-robert-pether.