60 Minutes saga: last chance to say goodbye for Sally Faulkner

Sally Faulkner’s emotional reunion with her children last night might be the last time she will see them for a very long time.

Sally Faulkner leaves court in Beirut before seeing her children. Picture: ABC

It is dawning on Sally Faulkner that an emotional reunion with her children last night might be the last time she will see them for a very long time.

The Brisbane mother met the children’s father, Ali Elamine, Lahela, 5, and Noah, 3, at a play centre in Beirut for what will be their last meeting before she flies home to Australia.

The meeting came as it emerged yesterday that Mr Elamine attempted in court to have the children’s Australian nationalities removed from their passports — a move immediately rejected by a tearful Ms Faulkner.

The Australian has also learned that the Nine Network paid $US500,000 ($640,000) to Mr Elamine in the official settlement registered with the prosecuting judge, and further undisclosed monies were paid directly to his family to encourage him to drop charges against the 60 Minutes crew.

A person close to the negotiations said Mr Elamine was initially offered $US350,000 — an amount he scoffed at — and it wasn’t until Nine raised the prospect of an under-the-table amount that he became serious in negotiations.

Last night, in an interview with the Ten Network’s The Project, Mr Elamine denied receiving financi­al compensation in exchange­ for his former wife’s releas­e from prison but did not deny that someone connected to him was paid.

A downcast Ms Faulkner had met Mr Elamine in the Baabda court chambers of the prosecut­ing judge to finalise their custody deal. Ms Faulkner and Mr Elamine left in separate cars and met at the play centre.

“She spent several hours playing with the kids because she wanted their final memory to be positive,” Mr Elamine said.

Ms Faulkner was accomp­anied throughout the day by Nine’s crisis manager Sallie Stone. Nine has paid for her Leban­ese legal fees and the network wants exclusivity to her story as part of the deal.

Ms Faulkner’s lawyer, Ghassan Moghaghab, said Mr Elamine had tried to incorporate an unpalatable amendment to the custody deal when it was thrashed out on Wednesday by attempting to have the children’s nationalities changed to solely Lebanese in their passports.

Ms Faulkner appeared depressed after the initial relief of being released from the Baabda women’s prison on Wednesday and said she hadn’t yet had the chance to meet the children. “I love my kids, I am not leaving Beirut any time soon,” she vowed.

Ms Faulkner and the 60 Minutes crew were released from jail after being arrested for a botched attempt to snatch the children from a street in Beirut on April 6.

The planner of the operation, Adam Whittington, was still in jail facing charges along with his crew, Craig Michael, Mohammed Hamza and Khaled Barbour.

Ms Faulkner, along with the 60 Minutes crew, faces the prospect of further charges once the prosecuting judge has finished his investigation.

If formal charges are established, Ms Faulkner is unlikely to want to return to Lebanon and face further jail time.

The custody deal does allow for a meeting in a third country, but only with prior notice and the approval of Mr Elamine.