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Faulkner reunited with family

Sally Faulkner is spending quiet time with her family in Australia after a harrowing fortnight behind bars in Lebanon on kidnapping charges over the two children she had to leave behind.

But the Australian-British man accused of organising the botched operation to recover five-year-old Lahela and Noah, three, from Ms Faulkner’s estranged husband remains in a Beirut prison.

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“Sally is with her family,” a Nine Network spokeswoman said this morning.

She refused to confirm if Ms Faulkner was back in Brisbane where she lives with partner Brendan Pierce and their three-month-old baby.

Sally Faulkner

Sally Faulkner and the children left in Lebanon.

60 Minutes journalist Tara Brown and her crew Benjamin Williamson, David Ballment and Stephen Rice, who were jailed with Ms Faulkner while covering the custody story, were also freed on Wednesday and flew into Sydney on Thursday night.

Ms Faulkner stayed on to kiss Lahela and Noah goodbye on Friday after agreeing to hand over custody to her estranged husband Ali Elamine in exchange for her freedom.

“I love them and Mummy’s sorry that it all worked out this way. I tried,” she told Nine shortly after her release.

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

Mr Pierce said on Sunday morning he didn’t want to comment when asked how it felt to have his partner home.

Nine has promised a “recap” segment of Ms Faulkner and Ms Brown reuniting with their families on Sunday night’s 60 Minutes program and an internal review into what went wrong.

The Australian Family Court granted Ms Faulkner full custody of Lahela and Noah but she gave up that right in exchange for Mr Elamine dropping abduction charges against her and the TV crew.

Ms Faulkner and the 60 Minutes crew could still face possible criminal charges – and Nine remains under pressure for apparently paying nearly $70,000 to the alleged child recovery team.

Adam Whittington, head of Child Abduction Recovery International, has expressed anger about being left out of the release deal as he waits for a bail hearing, postponed until early this week.

“We will appeal it with the Court of Appeal if we do not get a release on bail,” lawyer Joe Karam said on Saturday of his clients Whittington and fellow CARI operative Craig Michael.

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