60 Minutes Beirut kidnap: Sally Faulkner, Nine crew ruling due

A 60 Minutes crew and Brisbane mother face an anxious few days before a judge issues any state ­charges against them.

Reporter Tara Brown outside the 60 Minutes offices at Willoughby in Sydney. Picture: Braden Fastier

A 60 Minutes crew and a Brisbane mother face an anxious few days before a Lebanese judge ­finally announces any state ­charges for the kidnap of Sally Faulkner’s two children from a Beirut bus stop.

Prosecuting judge Rami Abdullah is to declare the formal indictment against all involved this week after a two-month ­investigation.

His recommendations have been overseen by the Beirut chief prosecutor and all of the legal processes have been completed for the charges to be laid. Lawyers have been briefed for a decision on Thursday or Friday.

Network Nine reporter Tara Brown, cameraman Ben Williamson, sound recordist David Bailment and producer Stephen Rice, with Ms Faulkner, have been on bail since April 22 when the children’s father, Ali Elamine, dropped his personal charges after Nine paid $US500,000.

The abduction crew accompanying them, former Australian soldier Adam Whittington, Cyp­riot tattoo artist Craig Michael and two Lebanese men, Mohammed Hamza and Khaled Barbour, have been behind bars in squalid conditions in Lebanon since their arrests in April.

Lahela, 5, and Noah, 3, were snatched from Mr Elamine’s mother, Ibtissm Berri, early on the morning of April 6 and taken to a safe house before being ­recovered by Beirut police the ­following morning as the plan to whisk them away on a motor cruiser unravelled.

Nine filmed the snatch from inside a car and paid the child ­abduction crew.

All of those involved could face kidnapping and assault charges, with jail sentences of up to 20 years. But the charges could be downgraded if the court determines it was a family child custody dispute.

Ms Faulkner has not spoken to her children since her release from jail. Nine has sacked Rice, but his claim for wrongful dismissal is suspended until the prosecution indictment is released.