Suffocation torture hell in Iraq prison
IRISH WIFE OF DETAINED DAD TELLS OF MASK DEVICE
THE Irish family of an Australian man who has been locked up in Iraq for nearly three years have revealed some horrific jail conditions include suffocating prisoners in a mask.
Construction engineer Rob Pether (49), who is married to Desree (52), from Roscommon, has been behind bars since April 7, 2021 in a €20 million contract row between his Dubai-based employer and the Central Bank of Iraq.
Robert has spoken for the first time about how he was interrogated in a Baghdad torture chamber at the start of his harrowing ordeal.
His wife Desree told The Star: “It absolutely breaks my heart when I think about Robert’s situation.”
Rob said he was “blindfolded and in handcuffs” for four days in an interrogation centre and then put into the torture room.
The dad-of-three said it had “wall brackets to suspend or hold people, suspended ropes for putting people into stress positions, electrical equipment for shocks and canes for beating”.
Mr Pether, who described the jail hell conditions and a device used against prisoners.
Air
He said: “It is a rubber mask with small slits in the face for breathing but it restricts the amount of air that can come in.
“Basically, the interrogations put you under physical stress so that you breathe more heavily, but as there is not enough air coming in the mask the wearer suffocates and blacks out.”
Mr Pether marked 1,000 days in prison in January – and almost three years behind bars.
Desree said: “Will we ever see him again? He’s one of the nicest people on the planet. And that’s what breaks my heart about how he’s being treated. The heinous treatment.”
Rob is originally from Australia but moved to Elphin, Co Roscommon, with Desree and their kids Flynn (20) Oscar (18) and Nala (11).
Flynn said: “Our only hope is that there is some humanity and he is released.”
Oscar explained: “It’s almost three years since our father was taken from us.”
Nala added: “I just want my dad back. I miss him so much.”
Desree continued: “It absolutely breaks my heart when I think about Robert’s situation. So many horrendous things we can’t even talk about.
Time
“We are devastated that he is still there. Flynn is finishing his 3rd year engineering and turning 21 in June. He was still at school doing his Leaving Cert when Robert was arrested. So much time has been ripped away from us.”
Rob was arrested in Iraq when he went to a meeting to discuss stalled works on the new bank in Baghdad. The UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention claimed that Rob was “forcibly disappeared” and called for his immediate release from the jail.