‘It Is Day 28 Today Of Doing Everything We Can To Try And Get Them Out...'

Irish woman’s warning as engineer husband is arrested in Baghdad

- Cathal Austin

The wife of an engineer being held in Iraq yesterday warned Irish workers to “think twice” before accepting positions in the country.

Roscommon-based Robert Pether, 46, and an Egyptian colleague were arrested in Baghdad almost four weeks ago after being lured to a meeting with the Governor of the Central Bank.

And Desree Pether told the Irish Mirror her husband’s story is not unique.

She said: “This is a warning for all Irish people to think about going over there to work in construction or oil and gas.

“This is not a one-off, this is happening. We found out at the weekend that there is another Australian who was arrested nine months ago.

“He was jailed for three days before being bailed, and he’s still trying to get out of that and get home.