Beirut, Lebanon – Sali Hafiz has not seen her pal for a number of days, not since Sali entered a financial institution with a reproduction gun in Beirut on September 14 demanding her personal cash, and immediately grew to become well-known throughout Lebanon, along with her defiant picture broadcast around the globe.
The pal, 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 be in hiding, cuts the cake into slices and shares them across the room.
“I’ve misplaced 5 kilograms already”, Sali advised Al Jazeera, one hand holding a plate with cake, the opposite holding her denims away from her waist, exhibiting how unfastened they’ve develop into. “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 stated was a reproduction gun, demanding to take $20,000 in money out of their very own accounts.
Sali stated 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 reside below 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 because of this, if folks wish to entry their international foreign money accounts, they are going to lose a substantial sum of money each time they withdraw.
Whereas she was not the primary individual to forcefully seize their cash from the banks this yr, Sali’s success opened up the floodgates, with not less than 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 might nonetheless get by, dwelling from their financial savings and work.
However that modified when Sali’s youthful sister, 22-year-old Nanci, was recognized 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 aren’t criminals, we’ve the cash, however [the banks] are stealing it,” Sali stated.
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 care for her kids if she died.
“I stated ‘I’m able to die so that you can get higher and I promise you I’ll get you the cash,’” Sali advised Al Jazeera.
The following day Sali entered the financial institution with the gun.
Sali and Ekraam nonetheless beam after they share particulars of the hold-up.
They left the financial institution with greater than $13,000 and an official financial institution receipt.
Police shortly surrounded their home however left when Sali posted on Fb that she was on the airport heading to Istanbul.
She stated she then left Beirut, disguised as a pregnant girl.
Tens of millions stolen
Ibrahim Abdallah was among the many crowds cheering for Sali from exterior the financial institution on September 14.
“We aren’t 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 advised Al Jazeera.
Abdallah is a member of the Depositors Outcry Affiliation, a bunch of activists protesting for the suitable to entry their cash, and which has helped organise among the financial institution hold-ups.
Abdallah stated he has thousands and thousands of {dollars} trapped in his account – financial savings from 17 years working as a senior gross sales supervisor in one in every of Dubai’s prime firms.
He confirmed Al Jazeera photos 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 kids and aged dad and mom.
“Each of my dad and mom want steady drugs and what [the bank] is giving me is just not sufficient to purchase drugs for my dad and mom. It’s not sufficient to place petrol in my automotive, it’s not sufficient to pay electrical energy payments”, he stated.
Lebanese monetary establishments have stated the restrictions are crucial as they merely do not need sufficient international foreign money to provide 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 thousands and thousands, however that no different financial institution could be keen to money, as a result of identical liquidity points that maintain accounts frozen.
“I’m prepared if any nation will take me, to go away Lebanon ceaselessly. I want to be a refugee in some other nation. It’s higher than being a refugee in my very own nation,” Abdallah advised Al Jazeera.
Sali and her sister have taken refuge exterior of Beirut, and are ready for the authorities’ resolution on Sali’s case earlier than they will return.
They spend the day resting and choosing apples from a close-by orchard.
Sali is apprehensive 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 around the globe are pleased with you Salii👑 #sali_hafiz pic.twitter.com/a1XtQMbPaN
— HIND (@itsH_93) September 14, 2022
“If I went again in time I’d do it once more,” Sali stated. “I had 4 choices: commit suicide, work in a [morally] mistaken option 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 stated.
Sali has seen the cartoons depicting her as a hero. One, shared many instances on social media, reveals her dressed as a Lebanese surprise girl, 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 develop into heroes, I want everybody would do the identical,” Sali stated. “Many individuals are committing suicide as a result of they aren’t capable of assist their family members, I did the suitable factor, I received my rights and perhaps that’s why they think about me as a hero.”