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Lebanon remands Australian over kidnap |
A former Australian soldier is in custody in Lebanon accused of helping to kidnap two children taken to the country by their Australian-Lebanese father.
Brian Corrigan, 38, and New Zealander David Pemberton were hauled off a plane at Beirut's international airport on Wednesday afternoon, according to media reports.
The pair could face up to 15 years jail on charges of kidnapping minors over their alleged involvement in a mercenary squad employed by Canadian woman Melissa Hawach to retrieve her daughters.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed a 38-year-old man had been detained in Beirut on December 21.
"We understand he is being held in relation to a child custody matter," a DFAT spokeswoman said.
"The Australian embassy in Beirut is providing consular assistance and liaising with local authorities.
"Consular officials are also in contact with the man's family in Australia."
Another former Australian soldier, James Arak, and two more New Zealanders, Simon Dunn, 33, and Michael Douglas, 40, have since fled Lebanon.
DFAT said it had no information on Mr Arak's whereabouts.
Hannah, 5, and Cedar, 3, were taken to Lebanon by their father, Ms Hawach's estranged husband, Joseph Hawach for a three-week holiday in July.
However, Mr Hawach cut contact with his wife, whom he married in Sydney in 1999, soon after leaving Canada.
The mercenary squad is believed to have retrieved the girls and reunited them with their mother.
Lebanese authorities are searching for the woman and her daughters.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said while he was sympathetic to Ms Hawach's distress he condemned the use of mercenaries to retrieve the girls.
"There's a convention dealing with the abduction of children which often applies in circumstances where one or other parents have taken the children out of the country," Mr McClelland told reporters.
"We would prefer to see the provisions of that convention being utilised rather than the engagement of mercenaries."
Mr Hawach, 31, has been charged with two counts of abduction under Canadian law, and international arrest and extradition warrants have been issued.
Mr McClelland said it was possible Australian authorities could have jurisdiction to bring charges against Mr Hawach if he were suspected of having committed an offence in Australia.
Ms Hawach had launched unprecedented legal action late last month in the NSW Supreme Court against her in-laws and her ex-husband's extended family in a bid to force them to reveal her children's whereabouts.
Saturday Dec 23 20:05 AEDT
 ©AAP 2006 |
