The Australian government says it holds “serious concerns” for the welfare of Australian engineer Robert Pether as his health deteriorates in a Baghdad jail cell, a process his wife has likened to “watching his murder in slow motion”.
The Guardian has obtained the first photos of Pether since he was arrested and arbitrarily imprisoned in Baghdad in April last year over a business dispute between the Iraqi government and his architecture firm, which was engaged to build a new headquarters for the central bank.
They show a gaunt-looking Pether, with discoloured skin and new moles covering his body, particularly on his back, which his doctors and family fear are cancerous.
Pether had already survived skin cancer prior to his imprisonment, and his doctors say local health services are failing to conduct proper tests and have botched the excision of two moles, putting him at severe risk of infection.
“Robert Pether is imprisoned in a 14ft cell with no windows and only one door with [up to] 21 other men,” his doctor wrote in a letter to Australian embassy staff two weeks ago. “To perform surgery on any patient and send them back into that environment is unconscionable.”
Pether’s wife, Desree, says her husband has lost more than 40kg in custody.
“He looks like a different person completely,” she told the Guardian. “The whites of his eyes are grey and he literally has two black eyes and patchy skin. His doctor was mortified. His skin is sagging off him and his bones are protruding.”
The department of foreign affairs and trade confirmed it holds “serious concerns” for Pether’s welfare. A spokesperson said the government was advocating for Pether “in the strongest possible terms”.
“Officials from the Australian Embassy in Baghdad are providing extensive consular support to Mr Pether and his family, including visiting him in prison and working with Iraqi authorities to ensure Mr Pether is able to access appropriate medical care,” a spokesperson said.
“The Australian government has consistently advocated for Mr Pether in the strongest possible terms at the highest levels and we will continue to do so.”
In late June the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, raised Pether’s case with the Iraqi leader, Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
Pether’s family say he is innocent and a United Nations working group has previously criticised his trial – and that of his colleague, Egyptian national Khalid Radwan – as compromised.
In a report in March, the UN working group on arbitrary detention released a report on Pether’s detention in March, finding it to be arbitrary and a breach of international law.
The report said charges against the pair were changed mid-trial and that both were denied a fair trial before being convicted of fraud and sentenced to five years behind bars.
The UN working group said it had received allegations that “[Pether] was exposed to extreme cold, threats of death, humiliation and various forms of psychological abuse”. The report also cited allegations that Pether had been “blindfolded, interrogated, screamed at, threatened, insulted and shown torture rooms”.
Desree Pether said it was “hearbtreaking” for her and her family to see Pether in this condition.
“I can’t believe those with the power to do the right thing can sit by and watch an innocent man slowly wither away,” she said. “It’s like watching his murder in slow motion.”
Pether’s Italy-based doctor wrote to both the Australian embassy in Iraq and Albanese in recent months to raise concerns about the deterioration in Pether’s health.
“After stressing that Mr Pether has had all his human rights trampled on, as his doctor, I strongly urge that he be released from this inhumane detention and be subjected to the checks that he needs URGENTLY in a hospital environment,” the doctor wrote.
“If he is not afforded this basic human right without delay, I fear that Australia will in short time be repatriated with the corpse of Mr Pether.”
