Kidnapping charges against Tara Brown and 60 Minutes crew dropped, confirms 9News.
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.
According to Nine reporter Tom Steinford if the 60 Minutes team can come up with compensation by 2pm Beirut time (9pm AEDT) the crew will be released today and free to fly home.
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.
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