How much did Australian TV network Channel Nine pay in compensation for charges to be dropped against their 60 Minutes team in the botched abduction case in Lebanon?
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But the charges filed against them are still outstanding, and unless prosecutors drop them, the four Channel Nine employees may be required to return to Beirut.
She surrendered any custody claims to the two children in Lebanon as part of a deal struck with the father in front of a judge Wednesday, her lawyer said.
An Australian mother and television crew were freed from detention in Beirut on Wednesday following a failed attempt to take her children from their Lebanese father.
“Yes, they’ll get one or two good hits but the damage to their credibility in the long term and the damage that they’ve done to the sort of journalism they do is long term and potentially fatal”.
“Please stop what you are trying to do, ” he said he told Ms Faulkner before the attempt.
“The visit was good, Sal had fun, the kids had fun, that’s all that matters”, her estranged husband Ali Elamine said outside the court later.
The judge, Rami Abdullah, said the state still had to review whether to drop the public charges, but that the Australians would be free to leave Lebanon.
Speaking to the Nine Network shortly after her release, Ms Faulkner said: “I love them and mummy’s sorry that it all worked out this way”.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expressed relief at the release of Faulkner and the crew and thanked Lebanese authorities for their help, but issued a warning to Australians traveling overseas.
Ms Brown told reporters she was glad to be home, before the group was escorted to two vans waiting outside.
Ms Faulkner went to Beirut in the hope of bringing five-year-old Lahela and Noah, three, back to Australia with her.
Child Abduction Recovery International’s Adam Whittington, a joint British-Australian national, and two Lebanese local employees who were hired as freelancers for the 60 Minutes job, as well a British national who came in from Cyprus, are still facing charges.
“These orders were made after the children were in the physical care of the father”. She has rights to visit them in a third country or Lebanon, but not in Australia.
Her estranged husband Ali Elamine said they had ice cream, that she hugged the children a lot, and that afterwards, she was in tears.
The Lebanese-American also reiterated claims he was not paid a cent by Channel Nine to drop kidnapping charges.
Marks said the crew “asked me to thank the officials in Lebanon who were involved in their detention for their professionalism and for treating them with dignity and respect”.
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He also said he was inclined to empathize with the Australian crew, especially the technicians, after meeting them in the courthouse, where he learned that at least one of them, Benjamin Williamson, was also a father. That’s why Mr Amin was able to drive such a hard bargain with Ms Faulkner in relation to future child visitation rights, and why he was reportedly able to demand and obtain money from Channel Nine.
