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Australian TV Crew Detained for Kidnapping Two Children in Beirut | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Media ID: 55349424
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Nine Network Australia, which was involved in documenting the kidnap of two children from Dahieh in Beirut


Beirut- A family dispute was transformed into an international problem as Australians, who participated in abducting two Lebanese-Australian children to return them to their mother, were detained in Lebanon.

Hours after abducting the two Al-Amin children from Beirut’s Suburb, security forces detained the Australian abductors.

Investigations revealed that the abduction followed disputes between the father, Ali al-Amin, and the mother, Sally Faulkner, who called her husband and informed him that their children are with her.

On the other hand, the Australian authorities announced on Thursday that a TV crew from an Australian TV Channel was detained in Lebanon while shooting a show, and that they are working vigorously to determine the crew’s location.

Regarding this issue, queries were raised on the security breach that happened in Lebanon’s Suburb, which is mainly controlled by the so-called Lebanese Hezbollah.

Interior Minister, Nohad al-Mashnouq announced that the Australian crew is involved in kidnapping the children and this has become a diplomatic issue; whereas by commenting on the children’s presence in the Australian Embassy in Lebanon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gibran Basil, confirmed that his ministry will follow legal process to solve the issue.

In the same context, the Lebanese Directorate General of Internal Security Forces announced that the government’s Information Division has detained four Australian suspects in the abduction of the six years Lahela and four years Noah al-Amin.

According to Fairfax Media, the detained crew includes Producer Tara Brown, Steven Rice and two cameramen. They were arrested while trying to film the

recovery of the brother and sister by an international retrieval agency hired by their mother.

Sally Faulkner accused her husband earlier of not letting her children to return to Australia after spending a holiday in Lebanon with their father.

According to what is being said in media, the mother had agreed with the TV crew in Lebanon to help her regain her children by kidnapping them and planning to smuggle them out of Lebanon using a yacht.

On the other hand, the Australian TV interviewed Sally before the abduction as she accused Ali al-Amin of kidnapping them from six weeks, after he told her that he will take them for a holiday in his native country.

In an interview on New TV, Ali al-Amin accused “60 Minutes” show crew of being involved in kidnapping his children and attempting to kill his mother, who was struck on her head with a gun.

He added that they are trying to take away his children from him as if he is a criminal.

On Wednesday, three gunmen in silver Hyundai snatched the children from a bus stop in the Beirut suburb of Hadath, Saint Teresa, where they were waiting for their school bus with their grandmother. The three assaulters struck the grandmother on her head with a gun and took off with the children.

In addition, a foreign citizen has also been detained suspected of planning to smuggle the children out of Lebanon on his boat.