Australian TV crew detained in Beirut while filming story on custody dispute
UPDATE: April 8, 2016, 3:07 p.m. AEST The mother of the children, who were allegedly kidnapped in Beirut, Lebanon, has also been arrested along with two Britons, two Lebanese and the Australian television crew. The children have been returned to their father, the Associated Press reported.
A prominent Australian news crew has been detained in Lebanon during the filming of a story about a custody dispute.
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The crew of the current affairs show 60 Minutes and acclaimed reporter Tara Brown have been detained in the capital, Beirut, while filming a story regarding two missing Australian children, Fairfax Media reported.
The Daily Star, an English language newspaper based in Beirut, reported Wednesday the incident is in association with the custody dispute between Australian mother Sally Faulkner and her ex-husband, Ali al-Amin.
Faulkner's plight has received substantial coverage in Australian media, including on Channel Nine, the network which airs 60 Minutes. The Brisbane mum's public journey to get her children back culminated in a plea to the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop at Christmas time and an open letter to her children. She had previously launched a crowdfunding campaign.
Faulkner said her former husband took the children on a holiday to Lebanon last year, but did not return them to Australia as she had expected.
The 60 Minutes crew was reporting on the recovery mission of the children, according to Fairfax Media, in which Faulkner hoped to return the children to Australia. It is unclear where the mother and children are currently.
In a contradicting report, Lebanon media reported that gunmen abducted two Australian children from a bus stop early Wednesday. The Daily Star report quotes an unnamed security source as stating that Faulkner is allegedly involved in the incident, and that the ex-husband had been granted custody of the children. It doesn't note by whom.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs advised in a statement emailed to Mashable Australia it had been in contact with Channel Nine regarding the reports. "We are urgently seeking to confirm the crew’s whereabouts and welfare, and have offered all appropriate consular assistance," a spokesperson said.
The Lebanese Department of Foreign Affairs and Channel Nine have been contacted.
This story is developing.
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