Prominent Channel Nine journalists have rallied to support 60 minutes’s Tara Brown and crew ahead of a further hearing in Lebanon on Monday on the bungled child recovery operation.
The crew were arrested last week in Lebanon along with Sally Faulkner, a Brisbane mother of two children who sought the services of a “child recovery agent”, Adam Whittington, to attempt to retrieve her two children from their father. 60 Minutes was filming the operation, and is believed to have paid for it.
But the operation failed, after a brazen daylight snatch of the children was attempted. Whittington, the 60 minutes crew – which included Brown, Stephen Rice, David Ballment and Benjamin Williamson – and Faulkner were all arrested and are facing charges of armed abduction, purveying threats and physical harm.
Faulkner’s lawyer will urge a Lebanese judge to release her from prison on Monday.
60 Minutes’ apparent decision to cover the costs of the child recovery operation has come under intense scrutiny, but a number of Australian journalists have now come to the program’s defence.
On Monday, Tracy Grimshaw defended the crew in an article for the Australian, saying they were not “tabloid cowboys”.
“They are not a threat to society. That’s probably the biggest Captain Obvious statement you will read all day. They are good people who care about what they do, who love their families and friends and are loved very much back,” she wrote.
Karl Stefanovic said in a comment piece he thought Brown was “trying to expose the truth of a story, fraught with legal hurdles that we can’t report on, and which usually protect the perpetrator”.
Veteran journalist Ray Martin also said he had driven the getaway car in a child operation in 1980 for 60 Minutes.
A hearing is set to be held in Lebanon later on Monday. The families of the 60 minutes crew had described their detention as a “living nightmare” as negotiations broke down between Faulkner and her estranged husband.
Judge Rami Abdullah last week urged Faulkner and her estranged husband Ali Elamine to reach a custody agreement ahead of Monday’s hearing, but their lawyers say this has not been possible.
Faulkner offered to drop her claim for sole custody of Lahela, five, and Noah, three, if Elamine dropped the abduction charges.
Elamine’s lawyer Hussein Berjawi said no deal had been formalised and “it is up to Ali” to decide if he will drop the kidnapping charges.
Faulkner’s lawyer Hassan Moghabghab will ask the judge to release her on bail if he rejects their argument that she should be released because mothers can’t be charged for abducting their own children.
He also plans to show the judge a document allegedly signed by Elamine in Australia in which he agrees to consult with Faulkner about where their children will live.
And he will ask the judge to enforce an Australian family court ruling from December 2015 that gave Faulkner sole custody.
“Ali doesn’t have all the cards in his hands; we have some cards to use,” Moghabghab told ABC Radio.
A Lebanese judicial source previously told the Guardian that investigators believed Channel Nine introduced Faulkner to Whittington, and that the company covered his A$115,000 fee.
Whittington claims he has receipts showing that Nine made online payments totalling $115,000 to him for the planning of the operation and recovery of the children.
“It was direct from Channel Nine, it was from their accounts department and they paid it in two instalments,” he told the Australian.
Nine has refused to comment.
Whittington’s evidence could play a major role in how the judge determines whether the 60 Minutes crew were directly implicated in the alleged abduction attempt or not.
Authorities appear to have been aware of the operation well in advance of it occuring.
The Lebanese foreign minister, Gegran Bassil, said last week that Australians “should respect Lebanese laws and the Lebanese should respect Australian laws”.
With Australian Associated Press
