ISF Frees Siblings Abducted in Hadath, Detains Australian Mother, TV Crew
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
The Internal Security Forces said on Thursday that it has arrested four Australians suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of two siblings south of Beirut a day earlier after the Foreign Ministry in Canberra claimed the detainees were an Australian television crew.
The ISF said the four Australians were arrested by the Intelligence Branch on suspicion of involvement in the abduction of Lahala al-Amine, 6, and her four-year-old brother Nouh in Hadath.
Later on Thursday, the ISF Intelligence Branch was able to free the two children.
"The woman and her two children are in ISF custody after being located in a home in Beirut 24 hours after their kidnapping," a source from Lebanon's interior ministry told AFP.
Later in the day, the ISF said the freed toddlers were "handed over to their father, following an authorization from the relevant judicial authorities."
The mother of the two children, identified by Australian media as Sally Faulkner, has said their Lebanese father took them for a holiday and then allegedly refused to return them to Australia.
"The woman made an agreement with the 60 Minutes program from Channel Nine to come help her recover her children from Lebanon," a security source told AFP.
The source said the children had been taken while with their grandmother and there was a plan for them to be removed from Lebanon by boat.
A grainy video of the incident released by Lebanon's al-Jadeed television showed the children walking with an older figure, reportedly their grandmother.
Several figures jump out of a nearby car and carry the children into the vehicle, which then speeds off.
Channel Nine said that the crew had been unreachable for 15 hours but were later tracked down to a Beirut police station and put in contact with Australian consular officials.
"It is a relief to know that Australian officials are about to speak to them," a network spokesman told the channel's evening news bulletin. "The crew knew that this was a risk, going to do this story."
Earlier in the day, the TV crew's network said the Australians were detained in Lebanon after they filmed a private operation by a child recovery agency involving the children.
Australian media named those held as reporter Tara Brown, producer Steven Rice and one or two camera operators.
"The Australian mother called the children's father in Lebanon to tell him that she has both children with her," a Lebanese security source told AFP earlier on Thursday.
The ISF said on Wednesday that the two children were kidnapped in the area of al-Hadath for family reasons. It did not give further details.
According to the state-run National News Agency, three gunmen, who were riding a silver Hyundai, abducted Lahala and Nouh while they were waiting for their school bus with their grandmother on the Hadath-Shweifat road.
The kidnappers took away the children after hitting their grandma on the head, it said, adding that the abductors were filming the operation.
In a tearful interview last October, the mother told Daily Mail Australia, “It's literally like a living hell.”
She said she called and emailed her Lebanese husband daily and had attempted to take legal action.
As her money and resources dwindled, the woman asked for the Australian government to step in and also petitioned for Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop to help bring her children to Australia, the Daily Mail said.
“But when the government 'did nothing' to help her, Ms. Faulkner is believed to have contacted 60 Minutes who offered to pay for the recovery operation in return for filming it as a story,” the Daily Mail added.
07 April 2016, 08:05
05
Another operation by the resistance 'inside' Lebanon adding further luster to lebanon's already impeccable international reputation.
07 April 2016, 09:41
14
I retract my comment now the story is unfolding. But in the past most of these incidents if not all were carried out by the same people calling themselves resistance.
07 April 2016, 10:25
06
don't be hard on yourself. The father who abducted the children is from ashraf neiss.
07 April 2016, 08:17
06
The April Fools's joke continues..... year round.
Turkish Pilots were kidnapped.... No arrests were made.
Czech journalists were kidnapped..... No arrests were made.
Young children from well-to-do families were kidnapped for ransom ..... No arrests were made.
Australian TV crew kidnapped..... will any arrests be made?
The trend indicates otherwise.
07 April 2016, 09:33
14
Abbas Ibrahim arrested them and they confessed to kidnapping charges;)
07 April 2016, 09:38
04
who needs ministers when you have one of this caliber:
شبطيني: ملف سماحة ليس اصعب ملف، فمثله مثل بقية الملفات ولم اعطاؤه كل هذه الاهمية؟
07 April 2016, 09:52
05
They have no right to come to Lebanon and kidnap these children. The mother should pursue legal international channels to recover her children, although I doubt she can.
Well done ISF.
07 April 2016, 10:14
16
Justin
The ISF should also arrest the father who kidnapped the children from their mother in Australia thinking in coming to Lebanon he is above the law.
07 April 2016, 15:03
71
Marcus, he did not "kidnap" his own children. He took his children to Lebanon, with the permission of their mother (his ex wife). He decided not to allow his children to return to Australia. Both the father and mother are in the wrong for the way they have treated their children! Imagine the roles were reversed and a Lebanese tv crew flew to Australia to film the kidnapping of the children on the streets of Brisbane...as strangers snatched the kids from the arms of their grandmother while being filmed by a Lebanese tv crew? What would be the reaction?
07 April 2016, 15:27
06
if he did not kidnap his own children then she also did not kidnap her own children. Any excuse for people of your kind to justify these barbaric acts. When a father takes his children from the country and the environment they live in knowing he will not return them to their mother and country what do you call that; one way tourism?
07 April 2016, 15:41
70
Marcus... He didn't kidnapp his own children because he had permission from the mother to travel to Lebanon! She organized mercenaries to kidnapp her children from the streets of Beirut without the permission of the father and by snatching the children from the arms of their grandmother!
The father not returning his children to Australia and their mother, is a custody dispute! The same thing happens everywhere around the world when mothers do it and it's called a custody dispute. In Australia, the mother has more rights then the father... In Lebanon it's the other way round. Same thing happened a few years ago when a father took his Canadian children to Lebanon and the mother tried to kidnap them from a Jounieh beach resort but were all arrested! If the father tried the same thing in Canada or Australia it would be kidnapping! Stop trying to justify your prejudice. I'm not condoning the fathers actions but both parents should be ashamed of themselves!
07 April 2016, 10:39
16
NNA: Shia Robbers broke into a gas station and stole LL20 million in the town of Bferwa in Nabatiyeh.
07 April 2016, 14:13
50
The Lebanese father, with the consent of the mother, took his children to Lebanon and has refused to allow their return. He did not kidnap them. These men then snatched the children from the arms of their grandmother, pushing her to the floor and shoving the children into a car are kidnappers! They have kidnapped the children. The children must of been terrified when strange men grabbed them! The grandmother must also be horrified... Everyone on this site should put aside the stupid sectarian hatred and acknowledge that these children must be serverly scarred by this ordeal. The 60 minutes crew should also reflect on their role while sitting in jail!
If this happened in Australia, with a Lebanese tv crew filming a kidnapping of the children on the streets of Brisbane, as the kidnappers snatch Australian children from the arms of their grandmother... The whole Australian media and public would be going crazy!
Poor children and shame on both parents for allowing this to happen
07 April 2016, 15:32
40
Tex... The 60 minutes crew that were arrested were not the kidnappers but were filming the kidnapping. They knew it was going to happen. They were in Beirut in coordination with the mother and kidnappers to document. This has been a story in Australia and channel 9 since last November. Why else were they in Lebanon?
07 April 2016, 15:55
40
Tex... It has been reported in Australia by Channel 9 (60 minutes channel) that they were attempting to film the "return of the children to their mother". They were there knowing that the mother was attempting to kidnapp her children and we're filming the reunion of the kids with their mum. The Mother and the children are now in hiding somewhere in Lebanon trying to return to Australia. The ISF have arrested the 60 minutes crew.
07 April 2016, 16:05
40
Tex... My point is that both parents should be ashamed of themselves! It should always be about your children! Never allow your kids to go through such a thing. Would you allow this to happen to your kids? People on this site disgust me with their sectarian comments and call me a Shiite pig, (even though I'm a Christain) just for rejecting this kidnapping. In Australia, it's a big deal about how fathers have no rights to their children in a custody dispute. It's a very sad issue were some occasions, fathers have committed murder/suicides in their frustration with the laws. In Lebanon it's the opposite...the mothers have no rights! Both systems are seriously flawed and in the end the children suffer the most! As a father I feel very sad and sorry for the Children and disgusted with some of the sectarian commenters on this site!
07 April 2016, 16:35
40
Tex... I'm not cheering the arrest of the 60 minutes crew nor do I think they did anything illegal... However they are very sensationalist journalist, and in Australia their is little public sympathy. There is absolutely no way they thought the mum won a Lebanese court case becoz it's not possible and they aren't that ignorant.... They knew exactly what they where there for.
The tv crew will ultimately be released soon, as they should. But it's important that Lebanon show that this is unacceptable and at least pretend Lebanon is still a sovereign nation! If this happen in the USA what would have been the reaction? I don't want to debate you for fun... This is about 2 children who must be terrified thanks to their selfish parents!
07 April 2016, 16:51
50
Tex... Do you have children? I have a 4 year old boy and I love him just as much as his mother does. I think I am just as important to his development. No one can deny the importance of the mother to her child, especially an infant child! A BABY needs the mother more then the father yes! But if my wife tried to take my child away from me and the courts dictated I was less important then the mother, I would go crazy! Fathers have rights too! Just as the Lebanese law that strips the mothers rights to her child are wrong, so too are the laws that strips the fathers right to their children! Bottom line is that a loving and involved father and mother is always best for the children without exception!
07 April 2016, 16:53
50
Any parent that puts themselves before their children's well being, are bad parents!
07 April 2016, 17:36
30
Good one and very true... Also the 2nd most popular question to the father would probably be "can I have some more money?"
07 April 2016, 16:14
60
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/tara-brown-and-60-minutes-crew-detained-in-beirut/news-story/1f6a32ddc78805fe739083928d04e839
What the cctv footage of the kidnapping.
07 April 2016, 16:48
05
I hope no one brings up the kidnapping of MEA employee Joseph Sader, who vanish into thin air on the airport road, we control and in full view of our security cameras, you know the ones we went to war to keep back in 2008. Oh and before you smart mouths ask us to hand over the tapes showing the kidnapping, we won't. It's a matter of national security, security and dignity of the Resistance, keeping Hajj Mohamad Raad's secret Kafta recipe secret from the Zionist and Takfiri enemy and as always we will cut the hand and tongue of anyone who even dares to ask, so there!
07 April 2016, 18:23
04
Finally, the lebanese authorities rewarded the kidnapper and gave him back the children instead of sending them back with their mother.
08 April 2016, 02:07
03
He kidnapped the kids and was rewarded by his lawless country. The mother made a mistake: she should have had him killed instead.
08 April 2016, 02:11
03
you described and articulated ado.australia's version of the event very well.
08 April 2016, 05:46
02
I saw the interview of the lebanese grandmother on TV. She talks as if she owns the children and how the mother is irrelevant in this situation. She said " the father decided the children will live in Lebanon and if the mother wants to see them she can come to Lebanon and see them even for one month!".
This lowlife kidnapped the children knowing he has the state of hezbollah behind him in Lebanon.
Instead of being arrested, as several posters said above the criminal father was rewarded and the mother ended up in jail.
Is Lebanon a joke?
08 April 2016, 05:48
02
yeah, he dances around the point like a tango dancer afraid to admit the act was pure kidnapping.
11 April 2016, 14:03
00
Why does Lebanon protect parental abductors? I don't get it. The father did abduct the children. I'm not saying Sally's method of getting them back was right. But what options did she have? Honestly? As an Aussie I have watched my brother go through the Lebanese legal system for a similar situation where the mother refused to return to Australia with the baby. The system was wrong, corrupt and made absolutely no sense whatsoever. I can imagine this situation driving anyone to the point of insanity. Shame on you Lebanon. Do right by the helpless children not the stupid selfish parent.
