CHRISTINE HEARD: It's Saturday afternoon in October last year. The residents of this commune in northern New South Wales are getting ready for a party. They're going to share a meal, enjoy live music, and by doing so, raise money to send one of them to Lebanon.

ANGELA EARTH: I want to see my daughter and I want to see her now and I've already been way too patient and way too persevering in this and that's why I must go to Lebanon again, that's why I can't rest in my beautiful life here, because I need to see her and I believe she needs to see me, and that's all.

CHRISTINE HEARD: Angela Earth admits she's been naive. Three years ago, she allowed her former partner to take their two-year-old daughter to Lebanon on a holiday. The pair never returned. Angela has been fighting to get her daughter back ever since. Angela's daughter, Nabella, two years old when she was abducted, is now nearly six. Her father is Said Reda, an Australian citizen who migrated from Lebanon when he was 15. When Said and Angela met, he was working as a massage therapist, thoroughly enjoying an alternative lifestyle. He didn't appear to be tied to his family in Lebanon, nor to his Shia Muslim heritage. That changed shortly after Nabella was born.

ANGELA EARTH: When she was three months old, his father died and just a phone call in the night and quickly he moved over to Lebanon to go to the funeral. He was gone for about three-and-a-half/four months and when he came back from that time, his focus was on getting money and returning, saying that his mother was quite old, it would be heartbreaking for him if Nabella didn't get to meet either of her grandparents or his parents.
CHRISTINE HEARD: For two years, Angela resisted Said's request to take Nabella to Lebanon. During that time, she and Said separated, but his request never waned. Finally, Said promised to stay for two weeks only and he purchased return tickets. Angela felt the trip was inevitable.

ANGELA EARTH: It was a sooner or later. It wasn't a yes or a no as to whether or not Nabella could go to Lebanon. This was her father, this was his homeland, this was his family and, of course, he had the right to take her there and, of course, she had the right to meet them. I wish that she could be older, but I understood his concern that the mother might not be there. So, it was logical. I just went logical with it and my heart just prayed that things were going to be all right.

CHRITSTINE HEARD: But it wasn't all right. Nabella didn't return. Angela will leave for Lebanon in a week's time, her fourth trip since the abduction. In previous trips, she fought for custody of Nabella. And she is the first Australian mother to win custody from a Lebanese court. Said appealed the court's decision and Angela won the appeal too. Said was ordered to hand over his daughter. Instead, he took Nabella into hiding.

LEBANESE TV (JANUARY 2001): An Australian mother has issued an impassioned plea for help to find her daughter, who she believes is in Lebanon.

CHRTISTINE HEARD: When Angela discovered Said had disappeared, she went to the Lebanese media. She told them there was an arrest warrant out on Said, but he could not be found.

ANGELA EARTH (AT BEIRUT PRESS CONFERENCE – JANUARY 2001): So it brings me to this point here where I need to ask all of you, anyone who hears this story, anyone who sees my child, who knows where she is or how she is, if you could please telephone this number...
CHRISTINE HEARD: No-one came forward and, after months of living in Lebanon, Angela ran out of money. She was forced to continue her fight from home.

ANGELA EARTH (AT BEIRUT PRESS CONFERENCE – JANUARY 2001): Anyone who leads us to Nabella, you will be well rewarded financially.

SHEIK TAJ EL HILALI, THE MUFTI OF AUSTRALIA: 100%, he wrong, 100%.

CHRISTINE HEARD: Australia's Muslim leader Sheik El Hilaly supports Angela's fight. He's labelled Said's actions as inhumane and he's called on him to obey the Lebanese courts.

SHEIK TAJ EL HILALI (Translation): This is a religious order that both parties must abide by. The action of this gentleman contradicts the principles of Islam and contradicts the agreement reached with his consent in the religious court.

ANGELA EARTH: I just remember how much she loves swimming and I could just see her swimming around here and really, you know, having a nice time. I mean, a platypus - where else can she see a platypus?

CHRISTINE HEARD: Angela has two other children from a previous relationship. Zia, her elder daughter, will follow her mother to Lebanon in a month's time. Together they hope to find Said and convince him that this is where Nabella should grow up. If that doesn't happen, Angela is prepared for drastic action.

ANGELA EARTH: If it can't be done that way, I'm at the point of snatching her back - and that's taken me three years to get to that because I don't agree with re-abduction.

CHRISTINE HEARD (to Angela Earth): But you have come to the point where you are prepared to do it?

ANGELA EARTH: Because I can find no other way.

CHRISTINE HEARD: What right do you have to subject Nabella to a re-abduction if it comes to that?

ANGELA EARTH: Because I believe that what this life can offer here is worth that.

CHRISTINE HEARD (to Zia Earth): Are you and your mum doing this for yourselves, are you doing it to ease your personal pain?

ZIA EARTH, NABELLA’S SISTER: I've thought about it a lot. Keep going, finish it off.

CHRISTINE HEARD: Or are you doing it for Nabella?

ZIA EARTH: Well, being honest, I think that...we want to see her, we want to be with her - that's part of it - but that's not why we're doing it. It's not why I'm doing it. I can't speak for anyone else, I can speak for myself. I want to go over there and bring Nabella back because I think that she would have a better life here than she would in Lebanon. I think she would have more choices, more chance at happiness, more freedom, she can choose the man she wants to marry, she can choose her religion, she can choose the school she wants to go to, the language she speaks, the places she lives, the kids she plays with, she has choices. She doesn't have to run, she doesn't have to hide, she doesn't have to be someone else, somewhere else.

CHRISTINE HEARD: Are you lumping Lebanon into a stereotypical box here? How do you know that that is Nabella's life?

ZIA EARTH: I don't - that's why I'm going over there. I want to see what it's like over there. But I do know her father. I do know what he's like and I've had reports that she's been moved every three months. I've had reports that he's changed her name. I've had reports that she doesn't speak English any more.

CHRITSTINE HEARD: A week has passed since the fundraiser in northern NSW. Angela's family has come to Sydney Airport to see her off. Angela tells them she's confident this time she's going to bring Nabella back. Three weeks later, Angela walks along Beirut's waterfront district. Young girls Nabella's age are everywhere. Angela is worried about her daughter's wellbeing.

ANGELA EARTH: I hate the thought that she's living in hiding on the run, some sort of fugitive because her father's a fugitive. That is a really scary thing for me. I really long to see her, like more than I can say.

CHRISTINE HEARD: In three weeks, Angela has learnt a lot. She had suspected, but now she knows, that Said is living in a suburb of Beirut called Hret Hriak. It's in an area of the city controlled by the Hezbollah and that explains why the police can't, and won't, find Said.

ANGELA EARTH: The chief prosecutor, Mr Adoum, has said that it's clear to him and the police officers working on the case that Said Reda is inside a Hezbollah area, he's being protected by them and that he's not able to have, you know, risk his officers in a way by going into that area, that he's sorry, but he can't assist.

CHRISTINE HEARD: This is Hret Hriak on one of the holiest days of the year for Shia Muslims. And hidden somewhere in this Hezbollah stronghold is Nabella. Hezbollah, a religious army, committed to fighting Israel, is a law unto itself in Lebanon. Its leaders deny Said Reda is being protected, yet they have no intention of handing him over to the police. And Hezbollah is a force the Lebanese police don't dare confront.

ANGELA EARTH: Coming from Australia, that's a pretty incredible thing that the chief prosecutor will just - you know, it's a really high position, you can't get any higher than this in the police force, says that "Gee sorry, he's there, we can't get him." They know where he is and they can't get him - incredible.

CHRISTINE HEARD: Frustrated, Angela is looking for Said herself. She's helped by Diana, a local woman. Together, they spend days driving around suburbs close to Hret Hriak. They ask if anyone knows of Said Reda. But no-one does. They check schools, just in case Nabella is enrolled.

ANGELA EARTH: Hi kids, you learning English, sometimes?

CHRISTINE HEARD: But she's not here.

STEPHANIE SHWABSKY, AUSTRALIA’S AMBASSADOR TO LEBANON: The truth is that the success rate of getting a child back is not very high. Success usually comes from the parents making a private agreement over access, custody, return to Australia, sharing the child. But often when the cases have come to us, of course, that process has broken down and it's difficult to re-establish it.

CHRITSTINE HEARD: A few days later Angela meets with Stephanie Shwabsky, Australia's Ambassador to Lebanon. Angela tells her that Said has surfaced. He's met with Sheikh Mushek, the Hezbollah leader in charge of the suburb Hret Hriak.

ANGELA EARTH: Said's saying that he's open to me seeing Nabella but only after the arrest warrants are removed from him.

CHRISTINE HEARD: The embassy sees lots of these cases, but this is the only case in which a Lebanese court has awarded custody to an Australian mother. Despite such legal clarity, there is little the embassy can do.

STEPHANIE SHWABSKY: We can't, of course, simply go and get children, give them back to the Australian parent and have them leave the country - that's not a possibility.
All Ambassador Shwabsky can do is exert pressure on the Lebanese authorities to enforce their own court rulings. But that hasn't gotten Nabella back.

STEPHANIE SHWABSKY: Looking at it from our perspective, it's a very clear question. The State must uphold the authorities of the court. The realities in Lebanon are rather more difficult and we have to work within those realities to achieve the most positive result for Angela.

CHRISTINE HEARD: A month has passed since Angela left Australia. Today, her elder daughter Zia is flying out to join her.

ZIA EARTH: I get to do something I've been wanting to do for a very long time now. I get to help out, in a physical way instead of just praying and waiting.

CHRISTINE HEARD: Zia is optimistic and she has good reason to be. Three weeks after landing in Lebanon, she sees her sister.

ANGELA EARTH (LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS): Ah, beautiful, look at that one. Oh, that's a really happy, beautiful photo.

CHRISTINE HEARD: The meeting took place at the end of Ramadan. Angela and Zia arranged to spend time with Said's extended family. Like Angela, Said's family hadn't seen him or Nabella for years. But when Angela arrived, Said was there.

ANGELA EARTH: He was saying that he'd taken a real risk to do this, that it was a step forward in faith, that we could find some solution, that if anything was planned that would undermine that or jeopardise his safety, then we could be assured that we would never see Nabella again and he could do this and he would do this.

CHRISTINE HEARD: Angela and Zia spent five hours with Nabella. She was happiest when playing with other children, otherwise she clung silently to her father. Angela says it was clear Said had told Nabella to be wary of her mother.

ANGELA EARTH: It was quite clear that she had a fair degree of fear, that if she got to know me and be open to me, then she would lose her father, like the two of them would be separated.

CHIRSTINE HEARD: Nabella did not speak English, but as her mother and sister played with her, they felt some connection was made.

ZIA EARTH: As mum said, when we sang 'Waltzing Matilda' it was a really magical moment because it felt like then she opened up a little bit, she listened, she almost wanted to be part of it. That was really special.

CHRISTINE HEARD: Angela and Zia made a decision that day. It was not the right time to subject Nabella to a frightening and confusing re-abduction.

ANGELA EARTH: I think it needs to go down in my life as one of the most courageous moments ever to say goodbye and trust that I could see her again. But there was nothing else - if I... you know, to be a loving mother to Nabella, that was the only, the only thing to do.

CHRISTINE HEARD: Ten days later, Angela's patience is rewarded. The Hezbollah sends word that it's told Said to leave Hret Hriak. And with Said no longer under Hezbollah protection, the way is free for police to find and arrest him. Angela dares to hope that this trip to Lebanon may be her last. Three months later, Angela returns and, once again, she's without Nabella. As it turns out, the Hezbollah has lied and Said is still sheltering in its area. The Lebanese police have finally begun to search for Nabella inside Hezbollah areas. But Angela just can't afford to stay any longer. (To Angela Earth) What assurances do you have though that the search will continue now that you're back here?

ANGELA EARTH: I think that we've built up quite a momentum. There's never been a search of this level before, never has there been so many people involved or educated or reminded that this is going on now and this needs to be solved. And that's what we achieved in this time.

CHRISTINE HEARD: In a few days, Angela and Zia will head home to northern New South Wales. There they will begin a new campaign of fundraising so they can return to Lebanon and keep up the pressure on the authorities. They ask that the Australian Government do the same.

ANGELA EARTH: She has a right to know us and that's being denied and that's what I'm fighting for. As long as we all stay alive, there's hope.

JENNY BROCKIE: In the weeks since Angela's return to Australia, there's been some progress. The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, has written to his newly appointed Lebanese counterpart seeking his personal intervention in the case. And there are suggestions Hezbollah may be taking some interest in sorting out the mess.