Ireland – Roscommon Herald, Jan. 06, 2026
An Elphin father has made a plea for support to allow him to travel home from Iraq after spending four and a half years in jail.
Robert Pether is an Australian citizen who had been living in Elphin with his family prior to his arrest. The father of three and construction engineer was jailed in a €20 million contract row and arrested in Baghdad on April 7th, 2021.
Now stranded in the country, he has written an open letter begging fellow Australians to “make a noise” and help get him home.
“I’m writing because this is my fifth Christmas away from my family, and because what has happened to me — and what is still happening — should never be normal for any Australian,” Mr Pether said.
“I am completely broken after being handled like an inconvenience.” Mr Pether wrote: “Here I am: alive, but not living,” he said.
“Released six months ago, but still not free. Not home, not safe, not truly out. Not receiving the medical treatment I desperately need. My life is suspended in a place where no one will state a lawful endpoint, and where my future can be tightened or loosened at will by people who understand exactly what leverage is.
“I am sick. I am writing this as someone whose physical and psychological reserves have been ground down for years by uncertainty, fear,” he said.
