Faulkner appeared in the Beirut court alongside Nine Network journalist Tara Brown and her 60 Minutes crew, Benjamin Williamson, David Ballment and Stephen Rice, over a botched attempt to retrieve her two young children in the city last week.
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CCTV footage broadcast by Lebanese TV appears to show six-year-old Lahala and four-year-old Noah being bundled into a vehicle by several men on a busy street in southern Beirut on Wednesday morning.
A sealed truck, believed to be transporting Australian Sally Faulkner, the mother of the Al Amin children, and Australian reporter Tara Brown, heads towards Lebanon’s Baabda Prison for women in Beirut, Lebanon, on April 13, 2016.
The group are expected to go before a judge later on Monday evening.
Judge Abdullah said yesterday following the hearing that there was “no way the charges will be dropped” against the group.
Five people arrested alongside them – including the children’s Australian mother – have also been charged.
“Ali el-Amien has said previously that he doesn’t want to see her prosecuted”. The company stressed that inaccurate media reports could be used as evidence.
“What I’d say is that a distinction is likely to be made between Sally Faulkner and the other parties involved, including the child recovery team”, he told news.com.au.
Mr Amin told Lebanese media that Ms Faulkner and Australian security agencies knew he was leaving Australia with the children and denied kidnapping them. However the network rejected his offer choosing a cheaper option, he claimed.
The Brisbane mother, who left an infant child behind in Australia, said 60 Minutes would pay for the agency to organise another extraction via boat, but Mr Chapman said he would need “some sort of deposit or guarantee” that the 75,000 euros would be paid. It has, however, sent an executive to Lebanon and is providing legal support.
Authorities later found the family, arrested Faulkner and returned the children to their father.
A spokeswoman for Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the allegations would now be considered by an investigative judge.
Australia’s ambassador to Lebanon, Glenn Miles, met Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil on Wednesday to discuss the case, which is causing significant concern in both countries.
The Hague Abduction Convention, which is meant to facilitate the return of abducted children to their country of “habitual residence”, was one avenue available to Ms Faulkner, albeit one that seems to have been beyond Ms Faulkner’s financial reach.
He said the crew have thanked Lebanese authorities for their “treatment in custody” and are in “relatively good spirits”.
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“We are taking advice, but I understand that all the Australians detained have retained lawyers, local lawyers who will be advising them of their rights”.
