The mother at the centre of the 60 Minutes botched child abduction has said she will get the children back to her despite being blocked from having contact with them.
Sally Faulkner’s children Lahela, five, and Noah, three, remain in Lebanon with their 32-year-old father Ali Elamine after the Brisbane mother returned home to Brisbane almost three weeks ago.
In an open letter about ‘the hardest struggle’ of her life, Ms Faulkner has revealed her ‘promise’ to bring to bring them ‘home’ in Australia, she wrote for Mamamia.
Sally Faulkner (left) has revealed her promise to bring her daughter Lahela, five, and Noah, three, back to Australia after the 60 Minutes botched child recovery operation in Beirut, Lebanon
Following the bungled kidnapping attempt in Lebanon Mr Elamine forced Ms Faulkner to exchange her right to the children for the charges to be dropped
She had enjoyed ice-cream with the youngsters in Beirut before she boarded a flight home with Tara Brown and the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes crew.
‘I made a promise to them in that last conversation: ‘Mummy will find a way to bring you back to Australia, everything will be okay don’t cry’,’ Ms Faulkner wrote.
‘Failures can be expected, but I will never accept that I cannot keep my promise to my children,’ she wrote.
‘My fight will carry on long after the media coverage is gone and I guarantee you one thing. I will bring my children home.’
The children, five-year-old Lahela (right) and three-year-old Noah (left), are now living in Beirut, Lebanon, with their 32-year-old Ali Elamine (centre)
32-year-old Ali Elamine with five-year-old Lahela (right) and three-year-old Noah (left)
Ms Faulkner said Lahela had told her in their final meeting: ‘Mummy, I want to come back but Daddy won’t let me’.
She said she then told the children Beirut would be ‘just a fun holiday with Daddy, and Mummy will come and bring you both home very soon’.
Ms Faulkner thanked all those who ‘cried tears with my children’.
She is collecting letters from strangers to ‘explain their perspective on my mission’ for the children to read when they are old enough ‘to fully understand how hard I fought and that their mummy never, EVER gave them up or wanted this’.
Ms Faulkner spent two weeks in the Lebanese prison alongside Tara Brown and the 60 Minutes crew after the kidnapping attempt before she was released and returned to Brisbane (pictured after release in Beirut)
In exchange for the charges against her being dropped Ms Faulkner was forced to sign over the custodial rights of their children (Mr Elamine pictured)
Last week, a family source said Mr Elamine had kept their children from contacting Ms Faulkner.
‘No Skype, no photos, blocked on Whatsapp … and (Mr Elamine) is not answering phone calls from her,’ the source said.
Ms Faulkner spent two weeks in the Lebanese prison alongside Tara Brown and the 60 Minutes crew after the kidnapping attempt before she was released.
In exchange for the charges against her being dropped Ms Faulkner was forced to sign over the custodial rights of their children.
At the time Mr Elamine insisted Ms Faulkner would be allowed to visit her children in Lebanon.
Ms Faulkner said Lahela had told her in their final meeting: ‘Mummy, I want to come back but Daddy won’t let me’
Tara Brown (pictured) and her crew spent time in a Beirut prison following the bungled kidnapping
The Brisbane mother returned to Australia without the children after her botched attempted at getting them back
Sally Faulkner (pictured) was released on bail after relinquishing custodial rights to the children
The moment Brown and Ms Faulkner were freed from prison after two weeks behind bars