An Australian mother and TV crew detained in Beirut amid a botched attempt to take the woman’s two children from their Lebanese father were released on bail Wednesday, in a dramatic climax to a high-profile child custody battle that has spanned two continents.
Ali al-Amin, the father of the two children, aged 3 and 5, announced he has dropped attempted kidnapping charges against his estranged Australian wife Sally Faulkner and the Channel 9 TV crew, because he “didn’t want the kids to think I was keeping their mother in jail.”