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A New Zealander who helped a mother snatch back her two young daughters could serve three years in a Lebanese prison if the parents' lawyers can't strike a deal over the children's future.
Former SAS soldier David Pemberton, of Napier, and ex-Australian soldier Brian Corrigan are in custody accused of being paid mercenaries acting on behalf of the children's mother, Melissa Hawach.
Almost nine weeks after the two girls were taken from their father in northern Lebanon, prosecutors this week asked judges hearing the case that the pair face a kidnapping misdemeanour charge, instead of the more serious charge of kidnapping a minor.
The Australian newspaper reported the court request was the first sign of progress since the pair were arrested as they waited to depart from Beirut hours after they had aided the return of Hannah, 5, and Cedar Hawach, 3, to their mother.
Two other New Zealanders, Michael Douglas Riwi and Simon Dunn, waiting in a car nearby, later got out of the country safely, and a fifth man, James Arapeta Kiwi, an Australian citizen, apparently left Lebanon a day before the alleged kidnapping.
The Hawachs married in Sydney in 1999 but separated two years ago. Ms Hawach had returned to Canada where she was living with the girls.
Joseph Hawach had taken the children for a holiday to see their grandparents in Sydney, before taking them to his ancestral homeland of Lebanon during the height of last year's war between Hizbollah and Israel.
Under Lebanese law, Mr Hawach has legal custody rights over his daughters.
Ms Hawach and the girls are in Lebanon and have instructed a Beirut lawyer to negotiate a compromise with her former husband.
However, the deal has been stymied by a conflict over where the girls will live - Canada, Australia, or Lebanon.
International arrest warrants have been sworn by Lebanon against Ms Hawach and by Canada against Mr Hawach.
Mr Hawach's lawyer Tony Tebchrany last month said he would not press charges against Pemberton or Corrigan if Ms Hawach agreed to hand over the children.
"We are ready to drop all the cases against her, and everyone involved with her, if the children are returned," he told CBS News.
The lawyer acting for Pemberton and Corrigan, Mohammed Khalil, recently called their participation a "humanitarian act".
- NZPA
