Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Australian engineer Robert Pether departed Iraq on Monday, October 12, 2026, ending a five-year ordeal that began with his arrest in Baghdad over a commercial contractual dispute tied to the construction of the Central Bank of Iraq’s landmark headquarters.
His departure was officially confirmed by Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, marking the resolution of an extensive bilateral and multilateral diplomatic effort.
Speaking to Australian media, including The Canberra Times, Wong announced that the Iraqi federal government formally lifted the travel ban that had restricted Pether’s movement following his conditional release from prison in June 2025.
The Foreign Minister stated that Pether is now free to resume his life and reunite with his family in Ireland, highlighting that the outcome followed persistent representations by Australian consular officials alongside coordinated diplomacy with Irish authorities. Wong welcomed his exit from the country, reaffirming Canberra’s commitment to supporting him and his family through the transition.
Pether was initially detained in April 2021 alongside his Egyptian colleague Khaled Radwan after traveling to Baghdad for what was intended to be a commercial resolution meeting between their employer, Dubai-based engineering consultancy CME Consulting, and Iraqi authorities overseeing the Zaha Hadid-designed Central Bank headquarters project.
Both men were subsequently convicted on fraud allegations and sentenced to five years in prison alongside substantial financial penalties, charges that Pether and his legal representatives consistently denied as an unlawful criminalization of a civil contract disagreement.
The high-profile detention drew significant international scrutiny, including an official review in 2022 by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which concluded that Pether’s imprisonment breached international law and raised serious concerns regarding judicial process, fair trial guarantees, and detention conditions.
The resolution of Pether’s travel restrictions closes a contentious legal saga that had strained consular relations between Baghdad and Western capitals for half a decade.
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