After Sally Hafez assaulted a bank where she had money stored and stole her struggling savings to pay for her sister’s cancer treatment, a Lebanese judge today, Thursday, punished her and barred her from travelling for six months.
The judge decided to release them on a one million pound bail apiece and a six-month travel ban, according to her attorney.
In the past, one million Lebanese pounds was worth more than $666, but it is now only about $25.
Since 2019, the stringent restrictions on foreign currency withdrawals imposed by Lebanon’s cash-strapped banks have limited the savings of millions of citizens.
As the small Mediterranean nation’s economy continued to deteriorate and the Lebanese pound lost 90% of its value against the dollar, about three-quarters of the people fell into poverty.
Last month, Sally Hafez and protesters from the “Depositors Cry” group attacked the director’s office of the BLOM Bank branch in Beirut.
The bank’s staff were forced to give them $12,000 and the equivalent of $1,000 in Lebanese pounds.
Sally Hafez, who has been hiding for weeks, was universally praised as a heroine.
According to Hafez’s attorney, Ali Abbas, “the bank filed accusations against her on Wednesday night after she turned herself in.
According to reports, Sally Hafez was joined by another sister who was also implicated in the theft.
Following the incident last month, Depositors Cry promised to assist other bank raids; since then, there have been around a dozen such incidents.
Lebanese MP Cynthia Zarazir organised a sit-in in a bank office on Wednesday, demanding the withdrawal of $8,500 to pay for the costs of the surgery she will have. Zarazir keeps her money with a lawyer there.
Lebanese banks claim they have been unfairly targeted as a result of the nation’s financial crisis, which has been shook by these occurrences.
Following a week of temporary closure due to security concerns, the Association of Banks in Lebanon this week partially resumed operations.
For more than two years, Lebanon has been working to enact a number of reforms in order to secure an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a rescue package and restore viability to its devastated economy.
Lebanon.. A young woman who attacked a bank brandishing a plastic pistol was given a $25 fine and a travel ban.
About Author
