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Sally Faulkner kissed and hugged her two young children goodbye, possibly for the last time in a long while.

Meeting at a play centre in Beirut, Ms Faulkner ate ice cream with them before saying goodbye. “The visit was good, Sal had fun, the kids had fun, that’s all that matters,” her estranged husband Ali Elamine said outside the court later, The Courier Mail reports.

“She’s their mother and obviously they are going to enjoy time with her.”

There were no tears while the children were present, but their mother cried once they left, he said.

When asked whether it was right to separate the children from their mother, Mr Elamine replied: “No, no, we are discussing that, Sal and I, right now. If she is not here, she can Skype them and whenever she feels the need or wants to come over.”

He confirmed he won’t be letting the children go back to Australia any time soon, saying he wanted things to settle down. “Then maybe a few years down the line, yeah why not?” But he said he was open to a visit in a third country such as the United Arab Emirates or Cyprus.

Speaking to the Nine Network shortly after her release, Ms Faulkner said: “I love them and mummy’s sorry that it all worked out this way. I tried.

“I hope I can see them one day again in Australia, I really do.”

Ms Faulkner’s lawyer Ghassan Moughabghab confirmed that, under the custody agreement that secured her release, she could visit the children in Lebanon or a third country, but not in Australia.

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  • The only people I feel sorry for here are the children, what an absolutely horrific experience for them to endure!
    60 Minutes should be so ashamed of themselves right now! Was the story worth it?
    & the so called mother my goodness what was she thinking? Follow the proper avenues!
    Now she will more than likely not get custody of her children again! & after this little stunt I’m not so sure she deserves it! The thought of children living in a dangerous place is terrifying, but being abducted by strange men is going to scar those children for life!
    There is obviously a lot more to this story but regardless the only real victims here are the 2 children suffering due to both parents childish “I want it my way” behavior!

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  • I feel sorry for the mother and the kids in particular, they don’t deserve this. But seriously only letting them live in a third world country???


    • I only know what is written above so I have no idea why the Dad has custody and not the Mum. As long as the children are ok. Thats what really matters

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  • As we dont really know the full facts of this story, the only ones I really feel for are children. Yes he took the children under false pretences, but we do not know why ? She is so wrong, the way she went about this even involving the media. I reckon the only reason she is still not in that prison is because of the media and what about the 2 she hired.
    A similar instance has happened to a friend of mine who lost custody of her children. Her ex-husband took his children under false pretences to another state Australia. This was due to the fact that there mother, who has always been a great mother to her kids, hooked up with another man who is known to take drugs including ICE. I applaud the father for doing what he did in this instance. Luckily they have been able to be amicable in the fact that the mother can have access visits with her kids but has had to up root her life and move to the other state. Unfortunately she is still with and claims to love her drug boyfriend, and because of this she has to have chaperoned visits.

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  • I feel sorry for the innocent children caught up in this mess

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  • So sad for the children involved. What gets me is people can take child to another country and the parent left behind can not do anything to get them back. The whole thing is wrong

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  • that is so wrong to separate the children being so young in a strange country to them they are in a different world as far as they are concerned and mum is the one person who can give them the comfort they need I think the dad is doing the wrong thing by his children whom he say’s he loves because of where they are in a country that can erupt at any time and maybe seal the fate of his own children to die is he GOD that he think’s he knows best may GOD forgive him

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  • Hard to digest, this is so not right !

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  • I couldn’t imagine not being with my children every day.

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  • Such a terrible outcome – hope Sally can come to grips with what she has been left with.
    Also hope she can afford to travel to Cyprus as often as possible so that her children know how much she loves them.
    This is a wake up call for other women to think about – other country people don’t think the same way we do and often use children as a commodity to make their wives behave a certain way.
    Been there and it’s not nice.

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  • I feel so sorry for this Mum – it’s hard not to see your children even when they grow up.

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  • I do feel sad for her; it must be very difficult. I hope this is a reminder that people should be very careful in these types of situations and that local laws should always be adhered to.

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  • Such a horrible situation. My thoughts are with the kids.

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  • This is an absolutely heart wrenching situation for mother and children.
    I totally understand why this poor woman did what she did to try & get her babies back. It’s totally wrong for a parent to rob both their children and the other parent of their relationship in this way!

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  • I do not understand, did he not kidnap the children in the first place, or did their mother originally leave them with him. If he took the children away, why isn’t he in trouble for taking them out of Australia. Perhaps I have not read the whole story. There should be some kind of agreement between countries when this sort of thing happens. Whomever took the children in the first place should be the one at fault????


    • From what I understand / know :
      The father and Sally were once married and lived in Australia, they ended up separated and the father moved back overseas and then took the kids back with him “for a visit” but then refused to return them. Because it’s overseas and not australian jurisdiction/territory anymore, Australia can’t do much to enforce him returning the children.
      I think with some countries we have reciprocal arrangements where if this sort of thing happens Australian authorities can come and take the kids back, but in this case we don’t have that.

      It’s definitely a horrible situation for Sally, I can’t imagine not having my kids with me every day.
      It does sound like at least she may be able to talk to them on Skype now and go and visit in Lebanon or another country now. That is better than nothing I suppose.

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  • I find it appalling. The father “stole” the children from their mother before taking them back to his home country where the law protects him.

    Reply

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