It's almost four years since Robert Pether was arrested in Iraq.
The Australian national, who had been living in Elphin in Co Roscommon with his family, was arrested in April 2021 and later jailed on fraud charges.
The United Nations has described it as an arbitrary detention.
A mechanical engineer, Mr Pether had worked in the Middle East for almost a decade before taking on a huge rebuild of Iraq's Central Bank headquarters in Baghdad in 2015.
Towards the end of the project, a dispute arose between the bank and the company Mr Pether worked for - Dubai-based engineering firm CME Consulting.
It landed Mr Pether and his Egyptian engineer colleague Khalid Radwan in prison, after the bank accused the men of stealing money from the project.
Lawyers for the men said they are "hostages in a contract dispute".
Robert Pether's son, Flynn, who was 17 at the time, recalls his father being invited back to a meeting in Baghdad by the central bank to resolve the dispute.
He left their home in Elphin, Co Roscommon and travelled to Baghdad and that was the last time he saw his father.
"The whole meeting was just set up as a ploy to get them into the country and they were about halfway through the meeting, and the person leading the meeting said something in Arabic.
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"Then the meeting room was stormed by the Iraqi secret service, or the equivalent thereof.
"They walked them out of the office down to where they had been staying, they pulled out all the hard drives, all the blueprints and everything else like that, and then took them into custody."
For days the family couldn't make contact with Mr Pether, not knowing if he was dead or alive.
"We weren't able to find them because they kept being moved from site to site and from there, we weren't able to talk to them. The embassies weren't able to find them.
"Eventually we were able to get in contact with them and it just went downhill from there," he said.
Jailed and fined
Mr Pether and Mr Radwan were held for more than five months before they were charged with fraudulently receiving funds in August 2021.
The judge deliberated for 15 minutes before convicting them, imposing a joint fine of $12 million (€10m) and a five-year jail sentence each.
Several appeals have been unsuccessful.
That same year the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions said that Mr Pether, and his colleague Mr Radwan, were arbitrarily detained and that their right to a fair trial and due process had been violated.
In 2022, a report from the UN determined that the case contravened international law, and that Mr Pether and Mr Khalid had been subjected to "abusive and coercive" interrogations.
In February 2023, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ruled that Iraq's central bank was at fault in the dispute with CME.
Hopes dashed
Mr Pethers's wife, Desree, an Irish citizen, has devoted much of the last four years trying to secure her husband's release.
Their three children Flynn, 21, Oscar, 19, and Nala, 12, are all Irish citizens.
As the battle continues to secure Mr Pether's release, his family now say they will have to sell their home, due to mounting legals bills, estimated to be in the region of €120,000.
Flynn Pether said it is a constant struggle for his mother as she tries to hold it together for the family.
"She is trying to hold it together as best as she can and she's not in great health herself."
He added: "It's coming back to this David and Goliath situation, where we've tried pursuing it on our own. We're €120,000 out of pocket in legal expenses, and we've been through court three or four times now.
"We're now forced into a situation where we have to liquidate pretty much everything, our entire livelihoods. We're looking at selling our house at the moment to continue fighting the battle."
Flynn Pether was in secondary school when his father was first jailed. He becomes emotional as he lists the number of milestones his father has missed in the last four years.
"Dad is my main role model, he's my hero, it's hard going through life's milestones without him.
"I graduated without him, I turned 18 without him, I graduated my first degree without him, I turned 21 without him as well.
"They are definitely things that I wanted him to be there for," he said.
The family have always tried to remain hopeful and in January this year were led to believe that Mr Pether was going to be released.
"So January 8th rolled around, they day we were expecting him to be released and we heard nothing. It was complete radio silence," Flynn Pether said.
"Two days later, new charges were released, and these new charges were for money laundering," he said.
"They've also reopened the civil suit as well for, I think it's $50 million dollars and if that money isn't paid, they're able to be incarcerated indefinitely," he added.
Diplomatic efforts
Robert Pether is an Australian citizen but, since he lives in Elphin, Co Roscommon, and his wife, Desree, and their three children are Irish citizens, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin is working to assist them.
There have also been diplomatic efforts by Australia and Egypt to try free the two men.
"We've received a lot of support from the Irish Government, in particular, as well where they've been helping to the maximum of their capacity.
"But because Robert is Australian, the Irish are only able to help within a certain capacity so what they've been trying to do is that they've been trying to grant him citizenship but obviously there's quite a few hoops and hurdles to jump through.
"We've had two Australian governments, elections have been and gone, and he's still in custody. And every time we raise it to the highest parts of the Australian government, it just falls on deaf ears."
Flynn Pether believes Iraq must be held to account.
"With the signing of the New York Convention, they're obligated to listen to external court decisions against them and they're choosing not to agree to that," he said.
Flynn Pether added: "So they're (the men) just facing these David and Goliath-esque charges and they need a support structure that's just not there."
Father's health
As the saga drags on, Robert Pether's health is in constant decline, according to his family.
"Previously to him being arrested, he had health concerns, and since being incarcerated and not being able to access proper physicians and proper medical expertise as well, his health has been declining," Flynn Pether said.
"These health concerns are mostly around skin cancer and melanoma because he had been diagnosed with melanoma in the past.
"And so being incarcerated indefinitely is actually effectively a death sentence by arbitration" he said.
Life changing
Flynn Pether is now in university, where he is studying mechanical engineering.
"It can be hard to navigate. I might be working on a college project and then I have to go meeting a high-level political figure to discuss Dad's situation," he explains.
"I try to shelter my younger siblings from the harsh realities but its particularly difficult around family centred events like Christmas.
"It's soul crushing to see the pile of presents for Dad growing, it's heartbreaking" he said.
When the family do speak to Mr Pether, Flynn said his father tries to shield them from his reality.
"He's doesn't allow the details of his incarceration to be talked about very often, and so he does try shelter us from that as much as possible" he said.
However, Flynn said his father is able to work with him on engineering projects.
"So, him and I have worked on different gearbox designs, and at the moment, we're working towards another final year project," he said.
"We bounce off each other a lot, and I think in that sense, it does keep us both quite grounded and connected.
"The fact that we're not without something to talk about, because as soon as you allow emptiness to fester, then that's when all the problems start to occur," he said.
Family appeal
Robert Pether's family said they need more support to secure his release.
"We've had good lawyers. We've had good representation and in any country outside of Iraq, this case would have been thrown out," Flynn said.
"It's a case where we need to call for Iraq to be accountable for its actions in terms of arbitrarily holding people and not following due process and not acknowledging the ICC rulings.
"There's all this evidence clearly saying they're innocent. There's nearly five year's worth of evidence proving their innocence, and it's just being ignored consistently."
'Actively engaged'
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it is actively engaged on the case of Mr Pether.
"As Mr Pether is an Australian national, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is the relevant consular authority for his case," a statement said.
"The Irish Government has also been very active to try and secure Mr Pether's release in support of Australia's efforts," it continued.
"The Department is in regular contact with the Pether family and the case has been raised with the Iraqi Embassy in Dublin, in visits to Baghdad by Ireland's Ambassador to Iraq (based in Jordan) and directly by Irish Ministers with Iraqi Ministers.
"We will continue those efforts until Mr Pether is released."
Tánaiste Simon Harris has said he will speak to the Iraqi authorities about the case of Mr Pether "at the earliest opportunity".
Mr Harris was speaking in Philadelphia and said the Government is doing everything it can to assist the Pether family.
"We are very much thinking of Robert's wife, Desree and their children", he said.
"I in my role as Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs will be active in relation to this and will be looking to speaking to the Iraqi authorities at the earliest possible opportunity in relation to Robert's case," Mr Harris added
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trades has said it has consistently advocated for Mr Pether making representations to the Iraqi government, including at the highest level.
Since Mr Pether’s arrest, it said the Australian government has made more than 190 representations to Iraqi authorities, most recently by Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong herself in a phone call with Iraq’s foreign minister in December last year.
Robert Pether is due back in court at the end of the month, according to his family.
He faces new accusations of money laundering, which appeared to be linked to Mr Pether’s acceptance of a salary from CME Consulting.
His family said the charges are a twisted interpretation of the law.
If convicted, Mr Pether and his colleague - Mr Radwan - could be sentenced to more than a decade in jail.
"There's five year's worth of evidence proving their innocence and if it continues to be ignored, it's going to be an indefinite life sentence.
"Every time they go to court, it's already a foregone conclusion, no matter how hard they try to defend themselves."
