Beirut: Ali Elamine's bid to keep the man his ex-wife hired to snatch their two children in Lebanon while until the matter is resolved in court has failed, with a judge lifting Adam Whittington's previously imposed travel ban.

Whittington was last week granted $US20,000 ($26,000) bail by a Lebanese court three months after being arrested for organising the abduction of Mr Elamine's two children from a busy street in Hezbollah controlled southern Beirut.

But Mr Elamine, who agreed to drop civil charges against his ex-wife Sally Faulkner and Nine Network's 60 Minutes crew in return for a payment reportedly worth half a million dollars, sought a travel ban aimed at preventing Whittington from leaving Lebanon.

At a court hearing on Saturday morning, local time, Judge Yousif Hakim lifted the ban Mr Elamine's lawyers successfully obtained from a different judge, Hasan Hamdan.

Whittington's lawyer, Joe Karam, has previously described the travel ban as an "illegal injunction" because it was made by a civil court and the matter is a criminal one.

After the hearing, Mr Karam told Fairfax Media the Lebanese judiciary system was functioning well and in accordance with the rule of law.

"All procedures were according to the legality of the law. Now we hope that the family could overcome the dispute and allow forgiveness to take place and resolve all conflicts."

Mr Whittington intends to return home to Sweden where he lives with his wife and children.

He is one of four men the Nine network abandoned in Beirut after the 60 Minutes child abduction operation went wrong, including Whittington's accomplice Craig Michael and two Lebanese nationals Khaled Barbour and Mohammed Hamza.

60 Minutes paid for the child abduction plot but has sought to wash its hands of the crew they paid to carry out the operation, since obtaining their freedom two weeks after being arrested in Lebanon in April.

- with Latika Bourke