AUSTRALIAN engineer Robert Pether renewed pleas for the government to secure his release and bring him home as he marked his third anniversary behind bars in Iraq.
In an emotional letter penned from his prison cell, the father-of-four said he felt “abandoned” by the Australian government and fears he might not be able to make it home.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has consistently campaigned for Pether’s rights and welfare but his wife last week said that more action needs to be done by the foreign minister and the prime minister.
The Australian engineer and his Egyptian colleague were arrested after they traveled to the country to solve a contractual dispute over the construction of the new Central Bank of Iraq.
However, upon arriving there, they were sentenced to five years in an Iraqi jail and fined $18 million on fraud charges.
Pethers said he and his colleague were kidnapped and detained, and was forced to sign a pre-written, incriminating confession in Arabic, as he maintained his innocence.
Pethers was imprisoned three years ago on April 7th. He was sentenced to five years but pleaded for the Australian government to make it home before then.
