Sali Hafiz has been lauded as a hero in Lebanon after she entered a financial institution with a duplicate gun and demanded cash from her personal account to assist deal with her sister.
Beirut, Lebanon – Sali Hafiz has not seen her buddy for a couple of days, not since Sali entered a financial institution with a duplicate gun in Beirut on September 14 demanding her personal cash, and immediately grew to become well-known throughout Lebanon, together with her defiant picture broadcast all over the world.
The buddy, who didn't want to be recognized for safety causes, has introduced a cake to Sali, who, whereas she was not arrested, is now in hiding.
The white frosting merely says, “Sali the hero”.
Sali’s sister Ekraam, who additionally held up the financial institution and can also be in hiding, cuts the cake into slices and shares them across the room.
“I’ve misplaced 5 kilograms already”, Sali instructed Al Jazeera, one hand holding a plate with cake, the opposite holding her denims away from her waist, displaying how unfastened they've turn out to be. “It’s stress.”
Sali, 28, and her sister took a department of Lebanon’s Blom financial institution by storm on September 14, armed with what she later mentioned was a duplicate gun, demanding to take $20,000 in money out of their very own accounts.
Sali mentioned that she did it to pay for her sister’s medical bills and instantly grew to become an emblem of the struggling and desperation many Lebanese live beneath amid the nation’s deep monetary disaster.
Since 2019, banks have imposed extreme restrictions on international foreign money withdrawals, forcing most withdrawals to be taken out in native foreign money, and at a charge a lot decrease than market worth. Successfully which means, if folks need to entry their international foreign money accounts, they'll lose a substantial amount of cash each time they withdraw.
Whereas she was not the primary individual to forcefully seize their cash from the banks this 12 months, Sali’s success opened up the floodgates, with at the very least 5 different depositors finishing up related actions on September 16.
With authorities scrambling to react, and officers urging folks to not copy the heists, the banks then introduced that they'd shut for 3 days this week, with a plan to reportedly open on Thursday.
‘We’re not criminals’
Like many middle-class Lebanese households, the Hafiz household lived comfortably earlier than the nation’s financial disaster.
When the monetary collapse started, they may nonetheless get by, residing from their financial savings and work.
However that modified when Sali’s youthful sister, 22-year-old Nanci, was identified with mind most cancers seven months in the past, and the household started promoting their belongings after the financial institution denied their request to withdraw cash to pay for Nanci’s $20,000 surgical procedure.
“We're not criminals, we've got the cash, however [the banks] are stealing it,” Sali mentioned.
With more cash wanted for Nanci’s therapy in Istanbul, and the financial institution as soon as once more denying a withdrawal request, Nanci requested Sali to maintain her youngsters if she died.
“I mentioned ‘I’m able to die so that you can get higher and I promise you I’ll get you the cash,’” Sali instructed Al Jazeera.
The subsequent day Sali entered the financial institution with the gun.
Sali and Ekraam nonetheless beam once they share particulars of the hold-up.
They left the financial institution with greater than $13,000 and an official financial institution receipt.
Police rapidly surrounded their home however left when Sali posted on Fb that she was on the airport heading to Istanbul.
She mentioned she then left Beirut, disguised as a pregnant lady.
Tens of millions stolen
Ibrahim Abdallah was among the many crowds cheering for Sali from exterior the financial institution on September 14.
“We're not robbing, for us, we name it liberating our deposits as a result of the banks are robbing us, they're robbing all the Lebanese”, Abdallah instructed Al Jazeera.
Abdallah is a member of the Depositors Outcry Affiliation, a gaggle of activists protesting for the correct to entry their cash, and which has helped organise a few of the financial institution hold-ups.
Abdallah mentioned he has hundreds of thousands of dollars trapped in his account – financial savings from 17 years working as a senior gross sales supervisor in certainly one of Dubai’s prime corporations.
He confirmed Al Jazeera footage from his former life, posing with prime authorities officers from Saudi Arabia, lavish homes and galas, and selfies with celebrities like Ivanka Trump.
Now, he lives on the $400 a month the financial institution permits him to withdraw, which he makes use of to help his two youngsters and aged mother and father.
“Each of my mother and father want steady drugs and what [the bank] is giving me shouldn't be sufficient to purchase drugs for my mother and father. It’s not sufficient to place petrol in my automobile, it’s not sufficient to pay electrical energy payments”, he mentioned.
Lebanese monetary establishments have mentioned the restrictions are needed as they merely would not have sufficient international foreign money to offer account holders.
Abdallah confessed that he has additionally considered holding up a financial institution, however that he determined to not carry it out because it was too dangerous.
His financial institution may shut his account, as they've beforehand threatened to do, leaving him with a cheque value hundreds of thousands, however that no different financial institution can be prepared to money, because of the similar liquidity points that maintain accounts frozen.
“I’m prepared if any nation will take me, to go away Lebanon endlessly. I want to be a refugee in every other nation. It’s higher than being a refugee in my very own nation,” Abdallah instructed Al Jazeera.
Sali and her sister have taken refuge exterior of Beirut, and are ready for the authorities’ determination on Sali’s case earlier than they'll return.
They spend the day resting and choosing apples from a close-by orchard.
Sali is fearful about Nanci, who has not been capable of begin her therapy, as she is ready for her passport to be renewed.
However she has no regrets.
All the ladies all over the world are happy with you Salii👑 #sali_hafizpic.twitter.com/a1XtQMbPaN
— HIND (@itsH_93) September 14, 2022
“If I went again in time I’d do it once more,” Sali mentioned. “I had 4 choices: commit suicide, work in a [morally] unsuitable technique to get cash, see my sister dying or go contained in the financial institution. I made a decision to make use of the final answer,” she mentioned.
Sali has seen the cartoons depicting her as a hero. One, shared many instances on social media, reveals her dressed as a Lebanese surprise lady, holding a sack with banknotes in a single hand, whereas holding her sister – wearing a hospital robe and head shaven – within the different.
“I want everybody would turn out to be heroes, I want everybody would do the identical,” Sali mentioned. “Many individuals are committing suicide as a result of they aren't capable of assist their family members, I did the correct factor, I received my rights and perhaps that’s why they contemplate me as a hero.”
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