Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I rise to raise this issue, Irish resident, Robert Pether is an Iraqi prison. He is in a 14 ft. room with 23 other men. They have cushions and some bunk beds. He gets outside for 20 minutes, three times a week, on the weeks that he does actually get outside. He can speak to his family once a week. His three children and his wife are thousands of miles away. They live in my constituency, in Elphin, in County Roscommon. They miss him desperately.

Robert is a renowned engineer. He has spent much of his working life rebuilding war-torn areas and building hospitals, in particular. That is very much the measure of the man that he is. He was working in Iraq last year as the lead engineer for an engineering company alongside his colleague and deputy, Khalid Radwan, who was also detained. The company Robert was working for as an employee had a contract dispute with the Central Bank of Iraq, whose headquarters they were there to rebuild. These headquarters were seen as critical infrastructure to rebuilding Iraq. On 1 April 2021 Robert returned to Baghdad to try to assist in ending the dispute. During a meeting the Iraqi police entered and he was arrested. On 25 August 2021, Robert was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and issued with a fine of $12 million. On 16 March 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council published a report on the case. It concluded that the deprivation of liberty of Robert and Khalid, being in contravention of Articles 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2, 9, 10, 11, 14 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is arbitrary and falls within categories I, III and V. The working group called on the Government of Iraq to take urgent action to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of both men. The report went on to raise serious questions in relation to the trial proceedings, which I will not get into here. The working group raised concerns around the conduct of the trial, and noted with grave concern that during the trial, the men did not have clarity around their charges. The working group also discussed collusion in its report.

Robert is not an Irish citizen, albeit his wife and three children are. He is Australian. We understand that the Government is limited in what it can do and cannot, for example, provide consular assistance. However, I want to take this opportunity before the Dáil rises to plead with the Irish Government to do anything it can do, engage with anyone it can and raise the case anywhere it can. I understand that the Minister for Foreign Affairs is limited in what he can do. However, I acknowledge that he has done what he can to date in relation to raising this issue. He needs to continue to do that. When I first met Robert's wife, the most mesmerising thing about the case and the thing I could not understand was that even if the company did something wrong, why would an employee be held to account for it? It makes no sense. Robert has now been in prison for over 14 months. His health is deteriorating rapidly. His two sons, his daughter and his wife are at home in Ireland. In fact, they moved to Elphin because they bought the old convent and were doing it up to create a wellness centre for women recovering from an illness that Robert's wife, Desree, has herself. That is the measure of the family we are talking about. That is what they were doing in my constituency. Robert is now in an Iraqi prison and has been on his own for the past 14 months. I urge the Government to do more, to do anything in the world it can, to try to bring this absolutely horrendous and horrific situation to an end and to bring Robert home to his family.

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