The lawyer for team members who were part of a botched child recovery operation in Lebanon is angry some of them have been left in a Beirut jail.
Australian TV presenter Tara Brown (back) and Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner. Photo: AFP
Australian mother Sally Faulkner and a Channel Nine TV crew have been released from jail, after charges of attempting to abduct her two children were dropped by her estranged husband.
But four other people from Child Abduction Recovery International, who were contracted by Channel Nine to help, remain in prison.
Beirut-based lawyer Joe Karam, who represents two of them, told Nine to Noon the Australian broadcaster has a moral responsibility to look after them.
Australian television presenter Tara Brown walks through a media scrum in Sydney airport following their release from jail. Photo: AFP
"It is the rule of humanity that should prevail" - Beirut lawyer Joe Karam on Nine to Noon
He said Channel Nine cut a deal with Ms Faulkner's husband to drop the charges and it should have included his clients, who were Australian and British.
"They are shocked by this situation because after all it's like the Geneva Conventions, when someone is wounded, whether he is your enemy or whoever that's it - it is the rule of humanity that should prevail.
"They believe they have been left behind."
He said if it had been successful it would have been the best ever scoop for the programme, but Channel Nine should have carried some of the risk as well.
His client received payment from Channel Nine and was carrying out their instructions as part of a joint venture, he said.
"Channel Nine, according to my information, refused to include the other parties who were arrested into the deal," he said.
The children's Lebanese father Ali al-Amin Photo: AFP