Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris has been informed that an Australian citizen who has been living in Ireland has been released on bail after spending four years in an Iraqi prison.
Robert Pether and his wife Desree have been living in Elphin, Co Roscommon for a number of years.
The engineer was helping to design the central bank in Baghdad and was set to work on three hospitals.
However, there was a contract dispute between his employer and the Central Bank of Iraq, which led to him and his Egyptian work colleague Khalid Radwan being imprisoned.
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The pair were sentenced to five years and fined $12 million by an Iraqi court.
Mr Pether was detained in April 2021 and was found guilty of deception in a “kangaroo court”, according to his wife.
Mr Pether has been in an Iraqi jail since then and his family have feared for his health.
They have been lobbying the Government for help since his arrest.
In a statement the Tánaiste said that he has been “informed” of Mr Pether’s release and whose “imprisonment in Iraq has been a case of great concern”.
The Tánaiste said he had spoken with Iraq’s foreign minister Fuad Hussein last month to urge him to release the Australian.
“I was informed that Robert has been released on bail and for the moment he remains in Iraq, but I welcomed this as a first step to his being allowed to return to his family in Roscommon,” Mr Harris said.
“We remain concerned about Robert’s health and outstanding charges, but I am hopeful now of a positive resolution in this case.”
He also confirmed that he had spoken with Ms Pether about the “positive development” in her husband’s case and thanked the ongoing work of Irish officials living in the region on the issue.
