After five years detained in Iraq, construction engineer Robert Pether has finally returned to Ireland, stepping off a flight from Baghdad into the arms of his wife and children.
The aircraft touched down at Dublin Airport shortly after 9.45am, where Desree Pether and their children had gathered to welcome him home.
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“Today is about getting home and seeing most of my family and being a husband and a Dad again,” he said.
“And it is about saying thank you.”
“From my wife and from our children: thank you to every person who stood beside us, spoke for us, fought for us, checked on us, supported our children, challenged what was happening, or simply refused to let us disappear.
“I don’t think there are words big enough for what you have done for us,” he said.
Mr Pether said that although he does not hold an Irish passport, people in Ireland “saw a family in desperate trouble and decided to help because it was the right and humane thing to do”.
The 51-year-old was arrested in April 2021 alongside his CME Consulting colleague, Egyptian national Khalid Radwan.
The two men were detained amid a contract dispute involving the consulting firm and the Central Bank of Iraq.
Watch: ‘My wife and children have lived this [experience] with me’
The United Nations said Mr Pether’s detention was unlawful, while an international court ruled that his employer was not responsible for the underlying business dispute.
Mr Pether said he was “really overwhelmed” and unsure whether he could find the words to “properly express what this moment means”.
He said he had travelled to Iraq to “help a war-torn country rebuild”, but “never came home”.
Mr Pether said he also needed to speak about the injustice surrounding his detention, stressing that his return should not be interpreted as proof that the injustice had been resolved.
“We were innocent when we were taken on 7 April 2021, and we remain innocent today,” he said.
Last year, Mr Pether was released on conditional bail but was barred from leaving Iraq.
He said he had been freed from prison “hours away from death, my body shutting down, after months of critical illness and excruciating pain”, only to remain trapped in the country.
Mr Pether added: “I didn’t have my passport, visa or identity documents, and I had no ability to move around freely or safely, leave the country or even go to a hospital.
“Travel bans prevented me from returning to my family and from accessing the medical treatment I desperately needed outside Iraq.
“Coming home is not exoneration and being allowed to leave is not justice.”
Mr Pether said that after two travel bans preventing his departure were finally lifted, he was told to sign a waiver.
“I signed it because I wanted to go home. There was no choice.
“After more than five years, with my health deteriorating and my family waiting for me, there was no meaningful choice between signing a document and remaining trapped in Iraq,” he said.
Mr Pether said he was grateful to be home, but that his return did not erase what had happened to him “for even one second”.
“Freedom should never have been something that had to be bargained for.
“Justice would have been not trapping and taking us in the first place.
“Justice would have been accepting and recognising the evidence, respecting our rights and allowing us to return to our families.
“Justice would have been ending this when the United Nations found our detention arbitrary.
“And at the absolute minimum, justice would have meant that when the sentence imposed on me expired, I was free to leave. None of those things happened,” he said.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Mr Pether’s return followed “many years of persistent advocacy” by the Australian and Irish authorities.
“I spoke to Mr Pether shortly before his departure from Baghdad and am pleased he is now free to move forward with his life,” she said.
‘Plot twist and then another plot twist’
“Apparently he wants lasagna, so I guess I’m cooking (tonight).”
Desree Pether was at Dublin Airport with her children this morning as they waited for her husband and their father to arrive from Iraq.
She said he had been highly emotional when speaking to her before boarding his flight in Baghdad.
“He’s very emotional. He thought he was going to be more cool, calm and collected but actually he is a lot more emotional than he thought he was going to be. It’s going to be a hard journey for him.”
She described the past five-and-a-half years as “abominable”, saying she and her four children remained numb because his return had repeatedly been delayed and uncertain over the past month.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Ms Pether said her husband would go to hospital after landing because he requires urgent medical care. She added that she hoped his condition was “nothing too ominous”.
She described his ordeal as “beyond horrific”.
Robert Pether’s wife Desree Pether at Dublin Airport this morning
Ms Pether said she was deeply appreciative of the Irish Government’s involvement in her husband’s case, while also crediting the Australian and Egyptian governments.
“They [Irish Government] did it because it was the right thing to do as he is a father and husband to an Irish family,” she said.
She said Mr Radwan had left Iraq before her husband. When he sent a photograph from the aircraft, she became emotional because she knew Robert was due to follow only a few hours later.
“It’s still quite surreal, it has been such a hectic and really harrowing few months.
“It has been on again, off-again. There has been one obstacle after another, a plot twist and then another plot twist.
“Until he actually got on a plane last night – we’ve always said until he’s on the plane, a million things could happen.”
‘End to an extraordinarily difficult period’
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said Mr Pether’s return to Ireland “brings to an end an extraordinarily difficult period for Robert, his wife Desree and their children”.
In a statement, she added: “I would like to thank the Australian government for all their support to Robert and in securing his release.
“I want to acknowledge the efforts of the Iraqi Prime Minister al-Zaidi, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hussein and the hard work and coordinated approach of the Irish Government who have been liaising on Robert’s release for some time.
“I would also like to thank Irish diplomatic officials for their work on this case.
“I know the HSE, the National Ambulance Service and Galway University Hospital are ready to give Robert the care he needs at this time and I am very grateful for this.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Mr Pether’s return would bring “huge relief” to his family.
I warmly welcome the news that Robert Pether is on his way home. This will come as a great relief to Robert’s family here in Ireland.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) October 12, 2026
In a post on X, he praised “the hard work done by everyone involved”.
