Last month marked two years since Robert Pether, an Australian citizen and Irish resident, has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iraq. He is a father, a husband and an engineer.

Robert and his colleague, Khalid Radwan were both detained in Baghdad on 7 April 2021 after they went to Iraq to resolve a business dispute between the Iraqi government and their Dubai-based employer, CME Consulting. CME Consulting which is an engineering firm was working on the new headquarters for the Central Bank of Iraq. The project was hit by delays and increased costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a dispute arose whereby the Iraqi government demanded the return of $12 million USD paid to CME Consulting. As a result of this dispute between the Iraqi government and CME Consulting, both Robert Pether and Khalid Radwan who work for the company were detained and put in prison. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has stated that their detention is arbitrary meaning they are wrongfully imprisoned and called for their immediate release.

We have interviewed Robert’s wife, Desree Pether and his son, Flynn Pether four times on this podcast. There have been significant updates in Robert and Khalid’s case. New evidence has come to light that undermines a witness statement that was used to wrongfully imprison Robert and Khalid. Desree Pether joins us again to tell us more.

We discuss what has happened since we last spoke in November last year, the current state of Robert’s health, how the Pether family are coping with this ongoing trauma and how this has impacted Desree’s health as she has Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

We also discuss what the governments of Iraq, Australia and Egypt should do to free Robert and Khalid, how the international community and journalists can help as well as how to keep up to date with the Free Robert Pether campaign.

For more information on Robert Pether, please check out the following:

• Our previous episodes: Ep 32, Ep 36, Ep 40, Ep 46
• Free Robert Pether Twitter account
• Social media hashtag: freerobertpether

Get the latest updates on hostage cases we at Pod Hostage Diplomacy are working on including new episodes by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter, the Hostage Briefing. Subscribe here.

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American Marine veteran, Paul Whelan and American journalist, Evan Gershkovich are both wrongfully imprisoned in Russia. The United States government has classified both men as “wrongfully detained” and has called for their immediate release.

Both Paul and Evan are victims of Russia’s hostage diplomacy. We explain what hostage diplomacy is, the different types of hostage-takers, creation of the U.S. hostage enterprise, Presidential Policy Directive 30, the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act as well as how the U.S. Secretary of State makes the decision to designate an American held abroad as “wrongfully detained”.

We are joined on this episode by Paul Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan. Elizabeth has been campaigning to free her brother for over four years and we discuss what the Whelan family had to do when Paul was first detained including getting a privacy act waiver and power of attorney signed.

We explain clearly that whether the U.S. gives up a concession to free their citizens held in Russia or does nothing at all and leaves them there, the Russians will continue to take more American citizens hostage. The two things that need to be done to put an end to Russia’s hostage diplomacy are to punish the hostage-takers and continuously raise awareness of the risks so Americans stop travelling to Russia. We also discuss the predicament the U.S. government is in because if they punish the hostage-takers right now, Paul and Evan will be made to suffer even more.

Elizabeth tells us what the Russian authorities, U.S. government, corporations, international community, news outlets and public should do to help and she also discusses the lack of equity in how the U.S. government works to free Americans wrongfully detained abroad.

The people campaigning to free Evan Gershkovich will find this episode very informative and useful.

If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube.

For more information on Paul Whelan, please check out the following:

• Our previous episodes: Ep 4, Ep 21, Ep 35, Ep 39, Ep 48
• Free Paul Whelan website
• Free Paul Whelan Go Fund Me
• Free Paul Whelan Twitter account
• Social media hashtag: FreePaulWhelan

Get the latest updates on hostage cases we at Pod Hostage Diplomacy are working on including new episodes by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter, the Hostage Briefing. Subscribe here.

You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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Shahab Dalili is a United States lawful permanent resident from Virginia. His wife and children are all U.S. citizens. In April 2016, Shahab went to Tehran to attend his father’s funeral. He was then arrested and has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran to this day.

According to recent news reports, there have been discussions of a potential prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran. The U.S. government has stated that no deal has been agreed. Shahab’s family are very worried that he may be left behind by the United States government if a prisoner exchange deal does go ahead.

On this episode, we have the honour of speaking once again to Shahab’s son, Darian Dalili. We discuss the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage Taking Accountability Act which has been signed into U.S. law, the fire in Evin prison last year where Shahab is being held, the release of American citizen Baquer Namazi who was held hostage in Iran since 2016, the potential prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Iran as well as what the U.S. State Department, Congress and President Biden should do.

We then end this episode discussing what journalists and the public can do to help free Shahab Dalili and bring him back home to Virginia.

If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube.

For more information on Shahab Dalili, please check out the following:

• Our previous episode: Ep 41
• Free Shahab Dalili Twitter account
• Social media hashtag: FreeDalili

Get the latest updates on hostage cases we at Pod Hostage Diplomacy are working on including new episodes by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter, the Hostage Briefing. Subscribe here.

You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Support the show