As a judge warns there is “no chance” the charges laid against the 60 Minutes crew detained in Beirut after a botched rescue mission will be dropped, Tara Brown has told News Corp Australia she is being treated well.
News Corp reports judge Rami Abdullah has warned the 60 Minutes crew there is “no chance” the charges against them will be dropped as the case will be held over until Monday.
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 two children Noah 4, and Lahela, 6 whose Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner claims were kidnapped.
Speaking from her cell in a women’s prison, Tara Brown told News Corp it’s hard to gauge what will happen next.
“Quite genuinely we are being treated well by the standards here, it’s fine, it’s not crowded,” she said.
Tara Brown recounts hilarious memories from 60 Minutes. Post continues after the video.
According to Ms Faulkner’s lawyer Ghassan Moughabghab, if the feuding exes Ali Elamine and Sally Faulkner can reach an agreement over the custody of their children this will greatly “help all the accused people.”
Meanwhile Ali has explained to News Corp that the turn of events are “a really big mess, 100 per cent.”
He added: “The children are good, they are in good health and that is all that matters not the media not what happened, but it (the CCTV footage of the attempted sting) is for everyone to view. She [Sally] could have gone about it in a different way, not like this.”
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.
Speaking to local media, the grandmother said she was “pistol whipped” during the incident.
Sally claims her estranged husband took their two children to Lebanon and refused to return them.
On Wednesday, Ms Faulkner and the 60 Minutes team members were brought before Judge Rami Abdullah. They were interviewed privately and wearing handcuffs.
The team were supported by Channel Nine’s News Director Darren Wick.
The 60 Minutes crew have been formally charged with hiding information, forming an association with two or more people to commit crime against a person, kidnapping or holding a minor even with their approval and physical assault.
This story originally appeared on The Australian Women’s Weekly.
