Australia – ABC News, May 12, 2025
The family of Australian engineer Robert Pether fears he only has weeks to live, as his health rapidly deteriorates in an Iraqi jail and he struggles to get access to medical treatment.
Mr Pether, who recently turned 50, has languished behind bars for more than four years after being convicted of what his family has consistently described as trumped-up charges.
Late last week an Iraqi judge refused to release the results of medical tests Mr Pether underwent in a Baghdad hospital, with grave fears he has developed lung cancer in prison.
“He’s been really sick for about three months and in the last three weeks, nearly four weeks, he has not been able to keep any food down,” Mr Pether’s wife, Desree, told the ABC.
“He’s been in constant agony.
Ms Pether said her husband was surviving solely on rice cereal mixed with egg and sweet tea and honey, and that fellow inmates were having to keep an eye on him to ensure he eats.
“He told me that he has grey skin, he looks like he’s got two black eyes because the circles under his eyes are so dark,” she said.
“His bones are sticking out, and it’s uncomfortable for him to lie down because he’s so bony.”
Mr Pether had already undergone rudimentary surgery for suspected skin cancers in jail.
“I actually wrote to the Iraq embassy the other day and said, ‘Will you actually release his body if he dies or are you still going to squabble over that?'” she said.
“It’s just absolutely astonishing.”
