The photo that shattered Sally Faulkner's heart

Sally Faulkner's children before they left Australia with their father.
Sally Faulkner's children before they left Australia with their father. Photo: Facebook/Sally Faulkner

It is a simple picture of her much-loved son Noah, but it is what's not in this photograph that has devastated Sally Faulkner.

It's been more than a year since Ms Faulkner has had contact with her daughter Lahela and Noah following the botched 60 Minutes child snatch attempt that saw her thrown into a Lebanese jail.

Now back in Australia, the Brisbane mum shared the photo on Facebook this week and said her heart broke "into a million pieces" when she saw it.

Each child in the class was asked to bring in a picture of themselves with their mum for Mother's Day. The picture shows a sea of smiling children with their mothers, and Ms Faulkner's son Noah in a picture on his own.

"I've had countless photos taken with my children for the years before we were so cruelly separated from each other," Ms Faulkner wrote in her Facebook post.

"Our little angel Noah. His daddy couldn't even find a photo of the two of us and put it on the table with the other photos," she continued.

"Instead a simple portrait photo of Noah went on the table. The only child in that class that didn't have a photo of their mummy with them."

Ms Faulkner went on to address her ex-husband directly.

"Why are you doing this Ali? How does your heart not hurt? Because mine just broke so much more this morning seeing this. I can only imagine what our little children thought during Mother's Day without their mum

"A phone call or some form of communication is not hard."

In January the desperate mother told how she had not had any contact with her children since leaving Lebanon. 

"I do not have and did not have any contact with them from the moment I said goodbye to them at the Beirut playground, at the McDonald's," she told KIIS 1065's Kyle & Jackie O show.

"When I said goodbye, that is literally the last time I have spoken to them."

She had given up on trying to contact her former partner via phone or email, Ms Faulkner said, before issuing a public plea.

"I'd just say to him, Ali if you are listening you need to do what's right for the children and what you're doing right now is certainly not right for the children," she said.

"They deserve a mother. They deserve their basic rights to be loved by two parents

"I just want to have a relationship with Noah and Lahela.

"I don't want to be completely and utterly blocked from all contact, photos. I've missed birthdays, Mother's Days, Christmases. I don't even know if she's lost her front tooth."