An Australian engineer ensnared in a dispute between the Iraqi government and his Dubai-based employer is facing five years in jail and a $US12 million ($AUD16.5 million) fine.
Key points:
- Mr Pether and a colleague were arrested in Baghdad in April
- The Australian man's lawyers had voiced their concerns about the case to the United Nations
- Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in July she had raised Mr Pether's case with her Iraqi counterpart
Robert Pether, 46, has been languishing in an Iraqi prison since April after he and his Egyptian colleague, Khalid Zaghloul, were arrested in Baghdad, while working for engineering firm CME Consulting.
Mr Pether's wife Desree said the court decision was a "soul-destroying" travesty of justice.
"It's just absolute hell," Mrs Pether told the ABC from her home in Ireland.
"We honestly thought that justice would prevail after nearly five months and we are so shocked that it didn't happen.
"It didn't matter what evidence they presented in their defence, which was scarce because they didn't have access to their laptops or their hard drives, and the accusations had no backup evidence at all.
Mr Pether's firm was managing the construction of a new $1 billion headquarters of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), which was set to dominate the Baghdad skyline from its position on the banks of the Tigris River, and was designed by the renowned Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid.
The project had been hit with significant delays and cost blowouts, and the bank was demanding that money paid to the contractors be returned.
Earlier this week, an Iraqi judge found the pair guilty of deception, despite lawyers arguing they should not be held personally responsible for the actions of their company.
Mrs Pether said her husband was a "broken man" who had lost 15kg in his first 12 days of imprisonment. He is allowed out of his cell just three times a week for just 20 minutes.
"It's malicious prosecution, and they are pawns in a game of chess," she said.
"[The Iraqi government] wanted somebody to do the project for less, and so they have basically utilised all the powers that they've got at their disposal, because they are the government, and they have basically just gotten these guys out and brought somebody else in."
Lawyers for Mr Pether had made representations to the United Nations, voicing serious concerns about the pair's ongoing detention in Iraq.
Zaha Hadid Architects
)In July, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she had raised Mr Pether's case with her Iraqi counterpart, insisting he get access to his legal team and be provided details of the case against him.
"I do certainly very much feel for both Mr Pether and his family," she told Perth radio station 6PR.
"The isolation that they feel from each other – I'm pretty confident that's probably exacerbated by COVID-19 impacts as well.
"We will continue the efforts that we are making and our contact with Mrs Pether and her family trying to support them as best as we are able to."
Asked what she wanted the Australian government to do, Ms Pether said: "I want heaven and earth moved to get him out."
"We really have to do something significant so that it doesn't happen to any other Australian engineers or architects that that go over there and work."