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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Namita Singh

Australian engineer freed on bail after four years in Iraqi prison

Robert Pether Iraq Australia Prison Penny Wong Simon Harris Anthony Albanese United Nations Baghdad
Representative: Iraqi policemen standing guard in Baghdad - (AFP via Getty Images)

An Australian engineer has been granted conditional release after spending more than four years in an Iraqi prison in what the UN has described as arbitrary detention.

Robert Pether, 50, was arrested in Baghdad in April 2021 along with his colleague, Egyptian national Khalid Radwan, amid a contractual dispute between their employer CME Consulting and the Central Bank of Iraq.

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