What's next for Sally Faulkner and the full cast of Lebanon

kidnapping drama? | World news

Wednesdays deal to secure the release of Sally Faulkner and four Channel Nine staff is a major
development in the sorry story of a custody dispute gone global. What next for its cast?
Sally Faulkner
The 29-year-old Brisbane woman will be torn between wanting to see the two children she tried to
reclaim in Beirut and the three-month-old child she has back home. According to her ex-husband, Ali
Al-Amin, Faulkner will be permitted to see the children for lunch on Thursday, and will be able to
come and go as she wants to and from Lebanon to see them.
But the deal to drop the charges on Wednesday also involved her giving up custody of five-year-old
Lahela and Noah, three. Amin says the children are unlikely to be allowed to visit Australia for many
years, either.
Related: Australian mother and TV crew released in Lebanon kidnap case
While Amin has dropped personal charges against Faulkner, Judge Rami Abdullah said on
Wednesday he was yet to decide whether he would refer separate criminal charges to another court,
a move that would require the Australian former flight attendant to return to Lebanon for future
hearings.
Adam Whittington and Craig Michaels
The former Australian soldier who planned the child recovery earlier this month and his accused
accomplice are still languishing in a Beirut prison, excluded from Wednesdays deal. Whittingtons
Lebanese lawyer, Joe Karam, told reporters in Beirut that ethically it wasnt appropriate for Channel
Nine to arrange for a deal and not include the man they asked to execute for them something.
A Nine spokeswoman told News Corp Whittington and his partner are not part of our team they have
their own legal advice and process to go through.
We had no contractual relationship with them in the first place and still have no obligations to them,
she went on.
Related: Sally Faulkner's former husband claims he took children to Lebanon due to her
'relationships'
Sources have told the Guardian the courts opprobrium is likely to be reserved for the British citizen,
who, unlike Faulkner and the Channel Nine team, is considered criminally responsible for the childsnatching that led to Amins mother being knocked to the ground and allegedly suffer internal
bleeding.
The charges he faces include armed abduction, purveying threats and physical harm, which carry
maximum sentences ranging from seven to 20 years.
It isnt Whittingtons first work-related stint in jail. According to a statement from his company, Child

Abduction Recovery International, two years ago he was sentenced to 16 weeks in a Singapore
prison for immigration offences and restricting someones movements.
His business bounced back from that, but may not this time, with globally amplified criticism from
rivals and Lebanese authorities that his plan was amateurish and easily foiled.
Related: How did it come to this? Inside the doomed bid to snatch Sally Faulkner's children
It is possible a similar agreement to the one that sprung Faulkner could be reached for Whittington,
who is said to be receiving assistance from the UK embassy, but jail time would not be
unprecedented. Two former soldiers, an Australian and a New Zealander, were both arrested under
similar circumstances in Beirut in 2006 and served three months in prison.
Tara Brown, David Ballment, Ben Williamson and Stephen Rice
The Nine Network staff who trailed and may have financed the bungled operation were released on
Wednesday, after apparently paying Amin compensation to drop the personal charges.

However, like Faulkner, the Nine team will be sweating on a decision from Judge Abdullah on
whether separate criminal charges against them will be dropped or referred to another court. That
would require them to return to Lebanon to face court.
Australia does not have a bilateral extradition treaty with Lebanon and the Lebanese government
would need to make a specific request to extradite Brown and her team if they abscond.
Mohammed Hamza and Khaled Barbour
Hamza and Barbour are Lebanese citizens who were hired by Whittington to assist with the alleged
child abduction. They remain in detention.

A Romanian citizen allegedly linked to the plot remains at large. Two Dutch women, including 36year-old Antoinette Adriana van den Bersselaar, were initially arrested with the nine others but were
released shortly after.