An Elphin resident currently jailed in Iraq has been sentenced to 5 years in an Iraqi prison and fined 12 million dollars.
Robert Pether is an Australian born engineer who has lived in Roscommon over the last number of years with his wife and three children.
The talented engineer, originally from Sydney, was arrested in April in Iraq's capital city of Baghdad as he was completing a work contract.
According to his wife, he'd been held without charge in what is being described as a dispute between his employer and their client as part of a multimillion-dollar deal for the construction of a bank in the capital city.
Serious concerns have been raised over Robert's health and the conditions he is being held in.
An Iraqi court earlier this week sentenced Robert Pether and his colleague Egyptian born Khalid Radwan to five years imprisonment and a multimillion-dollar fine.
The Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working on the case, while six international lawyers are currently petitioning the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights according to today's Irish Times.
The family now have 30 days to submit an appeal to the Iraqi court system.
