Ali Elamine demands more ‘Ransome’: Australian network Nine urged to pay $500,000 to settle 60 Minutes Beirut abduction case
Whittington family urges Nine Network to pay $500,000 ‘Ransome’ for Adam in botched 60 Minutes child kidnap case
“Please, please Channel Nine help us. Bring Adam home”
“It was their fault, it went wrong. they can’t just put the blame on Adam. I feel it is their [Nine’s] responsibility.” -Georgina Whittington
Ali Elamine, the Lebanese father whose 2 children were targeted in the Beirut child recovery saga.
Georgina Whittington has urged the Nine network to payup and help secure the release of her son, ‘professional child recoverer’ Adam Whittington, who was arrested in April after attempting to return the two young children to Brisbane mum Sally Faulkner.
Adam Whittington, the architect of the operation to snatch Sally Faulkner’s two children off a Beirut street, will be released if the Nine Network pays a further $US500,000 to Ali Elamine. The Lebanese father said he would drop kidnap charges against Mr Whittington and his three others in exchange for the ‘ransome’ payment.
Lawyers for Mr Whittington and Mr Elamine are understood to be close to a deal that could see Mr Whittington, as well as British Cypriot Craig Michael, driver Khaled Barbour and Lebanese fixer Mohammed Hamza all released on bail, should they come up with the $500,000 demanded by Mr Elamine.
“Please, please Channel Nine help us. Bring Adam home,” Georgina Whittington told The Australian.”It was their fault, it went wrong. they can’t just put the blame on Adam. I feel it is their (Nine’s) responsibility.”
Adam Whittington
Whittington’s firm, Child Abduction Recovery, was hired by Ms Faulkner and reportedly received a $69,000 payment from Nine to recover the children from Lebanon where they have been living with their father, Mr Elamine.
The Nine Network is facing calls to pay $US500,000 to Ali Elamine in exchange for the release of an Australian man who allegedly orchestrated the botched 60 Minutes child snatch attempt in Lebanon.
Georgina Whittington has urged the Nine network to payup and help secure the release of her son, Adam Whittington, who was arrested in April after attempting to return the two young children to Brisbane mum Sally Faulkner.
“Please, please Channel Nine help us. Bring Adam home,” Georgina Whittington told The Australian.”It was their fault, it went wrong. they can’t just put the blame on Adam. I feel it is their (Nine’s) responsibility.”
Whittington’s firm, Child Abduction Recovery, was hired by Ms Faulkner and reportedly received a $69,000 payment from Nine to recover the children from Lebanon where they have been living with their father, Mr Elamine.
British-Australian Adam Whittington, and his colleagues werearrested on child abduction charges along with Ms Faulkner and the 60 Minutes crew after the failed attempt to snatch the children in Beirut on April 6.
The TV crew and Ms Faulkner were freed on bail after two weeks in custody as part of a deal thought to involve a $500,000 compensation payment from Nine to Mr Elamine.
Mr Whittington and the other 3 men are still being held ia a detention centre in Baabda, Beirut, since the botched operation on April 6. However a potential block to the negotiations is the escalating tensions in the custody battle between Mr Elamine and Ms Faulkner. Last night Ms Faulkner’s lawyer, Ghassan Moghaghab, presented evidence to judge Rami Abdullah that his client was being blocked from talking to her children and had had no communication with them since leaving Lebanon. While she gave up custody of five-year-old Lahela and three-year-old Noah as part of the deal to get Mr Elamine to drop abduction charges against her, Judge Abdullah gave Ms Faulkner permission to refuse to hand over the children’s passports to Mr Elamine and has suspended a condition in the original deal that the Brisbane mother must provide a signature to allow US passports for the children.
Judge Abdullah reopened his investigations after a scheduled break yesterday. All of those involved, including the 60 Minutes crew, could face a criminal trial if he recommends formal charges.
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