60 Minutes: ‘deal reached’ in Beirut child recovery operation
Tara Brown, TV crew and mother involved in botched kidnapping are free to leave Lebanon as Nine Network compensate father.
- 8.34pm: Crew may still face charges
- 7.17pm: Crew to be released
- 6.34pm: ‘Deal for mum, not crew’
- 4.38pm: ‘Deal has been reached’
Tara Brown and the 60 Minutes crew involved in the botched Beirut kidnapping are free to leave Lebanon after the Nine Network paid an unspecified amount of reconciliation money to Lebanese father Ali Elamine. Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner has also been released.
Tara Brown is officially free. Joins her 60 Minutes colleagues in a van headed for Beirut Airport pic.twitter.com/SudA5euSgq
— Tom Steinfort (@tomsteinfort) April 20, 2016
Pandemonium as Tara Brown walks out of prison into van. All 60 mins crew have now left jail. pic.twitter.com/8pPtL3bcEe
— cath turner (@turnerscope) April 20, 2016
Channel Nine is hoping to have the 60 Minutes crew on a flight out of Beirut tonight
— Tom Steinfort (@tomsteinfort) April 20, 2016
8.34pm:Crew may still face charges
Mother Sally Faulkner, 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown and the TV crew may have to return to Lebanon and potentially face further kidnapping and conspiracy charges from the state.
Judge Rami Abdullah said he was still investigating the case despite the 60 Minutes crew and Faulkner being released on bail following the dropping of the charges by Elsmine and his mother Ibtissma Berri.
“A crime has happened and everyone has a role in this affair,” Judge Abdullah said. “I will decide after my consideration.”
The judge insisted that if the state’s formal charges were laid the crew had to return in person to Lebanon to face the charges.
“If they don’t they will be outlawed and charged in absentia,” he said.
Channel Nine's lawyer confirms all 60 Minutes staff are now free to leave Lebanon
— Tom Steinfort (@tomsteinfort) April 20, 2016
Judge: "I release all the Australian crew on bail because Ali Elamein has dropped the charges"
— Tom Steinfort (@tomsteinfort) April 20, 2016
Judge: "that is the personal charges that have been dropped. But criminal charges remain. They will have to return for them"
— Tom Steinfort (@tomsteinfort) April 20, 2016
7.17pm:Crew to be released
60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown, as well as Stephen Rice, David Ballment and Ben Williamson, were set to enjoy their first taste of freedom in a fortnight, after a sudden deal was struck with Mr Elamine.
All #60Mins crew and Faulkner now with judge. Handcuffed, but about to hear good news. Can confirm application for release has been stamped
— Jacquelin Magnay (@jacquelinmagnay) April 20, 2016
In separate negotiations Elamine also agreed for the immediate release of his estranged wife, Sally Faulkner (see earlier report below).
Earlier talks with Elamine involved “big sums of money” one of the lawyers involved in the case said.
Great news #60 mins have to pay compensation by 2pm and will be released today.
— Jacquelin Magnay (@jacquelinmagnay) April 20, 2016
Ali Elamine says Ch 9 crew was only doing their job and so the charges should be dropped.
— cath turner (@turnerscope) April 20, 2016
Sahar Mohsen, one of the seven lawyers who met in the room of the prosecuting judge Rami Abdullah in the Baabda Palace of Justice announced the deal for the journalists.
However it is understood that the charges against Child Abduction Recovery International director Craig Whittington, Craig Michael and two Lebanese men Mohammed Hamza and Khaled Barbour are to remain.
Fate of Adam Whittington from Child Abduction Recovery International is unknown. His lawyer does not look happy #60mins
— David Murray (@TheMurrayD) April 20, 2016
One embassy diplomat joyfully hugged Channel Nine’s lawyer in the corridor of the court, although the chief prosecutor has to formally rubber stamp the decision.
“It is a question of time for today, if the administrative work can be completed,” one witness said.
6.34pm: ‘Deal reached for mum, not crew’
Ali Elamine’s lawyer Hussein Berjawi has confirmed to The Australian that the deal reached was for the immediate release of his estranged wife Sally Faulkner, but not for the remaining 60 Minutes crew or the two British members of the Child Abduction Recovery International firm.
Negotiations with Channel Nine lawyers are ongoing.
Ms Faulkner is to be released very soon, but it is not expected to be today while the paperwork is being finalised.
Mr Berjawi said Mr Elamine had dropped the charges against his estranged wife on compassionate grounds.
“It’s because she is the mum of his kids,” Mr Berjawi said.
“It’s based on the request of the children he will ask for her release.”
He explained the file has been separated and Faulkner’s case was no longer tied with that of the 60 Minutes crew. The lawyers for Ms Faulkner and Mr Elamine have been meeting overnight to thrash out the deal.
The developments are good news for Ms Faulkner, although she has conceded custody to Mr Elamine but question marks still remain for the others involved in the botched kidnapping.
Mr Berjawi said the planner of the kidnap operation Adam Whittington, was trying to shift blame for the failure of the scheme to the driver of the getaway car, a Lebanese taxi driver Mohammed Hamza.
But Hamza has denied this, saying his original testimony to the police was beaten out of him and he wasn’t at the scene. However he has admitted to providing the safe house where Ms Faulkner and her children stayed for a night in the Beirut suburb of Sabra.
“Adam told him Hamza encouraged him to do the operation and told it would be ‘a piece of cake’, but that is not true. We can obviously see that Adam is the brain and Mohammed is just the foolish muscle,” Mr Berjawi said outside the court.
Mr Berjawi said the area of the operation was so heavily guarded by Hezbollah that a security detail would have fired the first bullet at the driver to stop the car.
Faulkner’s lawyer Ghassan Moghaghab said he was unaware how much money Elamine was asking of Channel Nine. He said Faulkner had agreed to relinquish custody and would drop the custody arrangements registered in the Australian Family Court. In return she will be allowed access to the children in Lebanon and other approved third countries, but not Australia.
4.38pm:‘Deal has been reached’
Australian mother Sally Faulkner and her estranged Lebanese husband Ali Elamine have finally reached a deal over custody and a financial settlement relating to the botched kidnap attempt of their two children two weeks ago in Beirut.
Ms Faulkner’s lawyer Ghassan Moghabghab told News Corp a deal had been done but would not elaborate ahead of a court hearing due to start at 11am local time (6pm AEST).
He described the deal as “very positive”.
“Somehow we reached a deal,” he said.
“We will see when we get in front of the judge today... hopefully both parties will sign the agreement in the presence of the judge,” he told AAP.
Hearing lots of positive vibes re negotiations between lawyers re #60mins kidnap case. Hopeful of deal today.
— Jacquelin Magnay (@jacquelinmagnay) April 20, 2016
The deal could pave the way for Judge Rami Abdullah to reduce, or even drop all of the charges faced by the 60 Minutes crew.
The best possible outcome is for all to be released, which could be as early as today, although the Lebanese prosecutor has to formally agree to the judge’s recommendations.
When Mr Moghabghab was asked whether the deal involved a payment to the children’s father Ali Elamine, he replied: “For my part it does not involve money, I don’t know about the other party (the Nine Network).”
The lawyer acting for the Nine Network, Kamal Aboudaher, on Monday said the broadcaster hadn’t offered any financial compensation to Mr Elamine.
“We didn’t exchange any offer with Ali regarding funds,” he said.
The deal does not involve money, dad's lawyer says. Case may be delayed because Elamine is stuck in Beirut traffic #60Mins
— David Murray (@TheMurrayD) April 20, 2016
The news comes as the conditions for the 60 Minutes crew; Ben Williamson, David Ballment and Stephen Rice, were revealed to have been particularly tough, with them being held in a baking cramped cell. Reporter Tara Brown and Ms Faulkner had been behind bars in the relatively more comfortable surrounds of the Baabda women’s prison.
Lawyer Joe Karam, for detainee Adam Whittington from Child Abduction Recovery International, also confirmed to News Corp he believed a deal had been done involving Mr Elamine.
“We hope that justice will find its way ... and that they will get released or released on bail, because locking them up for two weeks is too much,” Mr Karam told AAP.
It is unknown how much money Ms Faulkner has had to pay as compensation for the distress suffered by Mr Elamine’s mother Ibtissma Berri, who was hit on the head during the April 6 snatch, but her legal expenses have been picked up by Channel Nine.
Channel Nine’s Director of News & Current Affairs Darren Wick, who is at the court in Beirut, said “I have heard the reports of a deal but we have to wait until the court sits today and see what happens”.
- With AAP
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