Kidnapping charges against the Australian 60 Minutes crew being held in Beirut have been dropped, and are on their way home.
A lawyer for one of the accused emerged from a Beirut court on Wednesday afternoon local time and told waiting press that the charges against the Channel Nine 60 Minutes crew have been dropped, well as those against Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner, whose case they were documenting.
The television crew were detained in Lebanon after filming the botched rescue mission of two children. Reporter Tara Brown, along with producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David Ballment have been holed up in a Beirut cell since attempting to recover Noah 4, and Lahela, 6, whose Australian mother, Faulker, claims were kidnapped by their Lebanese father.
In the botched rescue mission Channel Nine paid two men to grab the children off the street where they were walking with their grandmother and a nanny.
Brown was in great spirits as she revealed the first thing she did after being freed was call her husband, John McAvoy.
“Had a chance to call John – I was ordered to call home straight away,” the veteran reporter told 9NEWS with a laugh.
“But not the kids yet, I can’t wait to speak to them obviously, although they have no idea about any of this.”
“It’s great to talk to home and it’s great to be going home.”
The sentiment resonated with Sally, who said she was “just so glad to be out of there”.
Adding, “I mean they treated us well, I can’t complain about that, it’s just the uncertainty that sort of kept me awake at night, not knowing if it was going to be a life-long sentence.”
The detained Aussies left the prison for Beirut Airport last night.
Channel Nine paid some form of compensation for the crews release from jail, but there is much conjecture around how much money actually changed hands to ensure their freedom.
This is a huge development considering the group were all facing charges that could have resulted in lengthy jail time.
Earlier this week a lawyer for Sally Faulkner, Ghassan Moghabghab, hinted at a deal being struck. Mr Moghabghab told News Corp that an agreement had been reached between Ms Faulkner and her estranged husband, Ali Elamine, the father of her two children.
At the time Mr Moghabghab described the negotiations as being “very positive”.
“Somehow we reached a deal,” Mr Moghabghab had said.
But according to AAP the deal could include the Ms Faulkner relinquishing custody of her two children, who currently are with their father in Lebanon, in return for her release.
Mr Elamine, a Lebanese-American, was seen entering the court today and is reportedly happy to see the charges dropped after reasoning that the TV crews were only in the country to document the story.
At this stage the fate of the two men from the professional child recovery agency is unclear.
