by Samuel Finetti
On September 14, 28-year-old Sali Hafiz went into the bank with a gun and left with $13,000 to pay for her sister’s care. His money he couldn’t withdraw. Now hidden but says: I would do it again
Many of her countrymen have nicknamed her the Wonder Woman of Lebanon. There is even a cartoon on social media depicting her in the role of the heroine. But the plan that 28-year-old Sali Hafiz put into action in Beirut on September 14 appears to be anything but heroin at first glance. Accompanied by a sister, she entered a bank and began brandishing a fake gun while using the other hand to spill water mixed with gasoline at customers and vendors.
As you can guess, Sali wanted some money. its, for. Even the girl, like all her compatriots, the country’s credit institutions actually forbid to withdraw the deposited savings. A measure to deal with the dramatic financial crisis imposed by the same institutions in 2019 and never approved by the legislature: an estimated 80 percent of Lebanese live below the poverty line. So far, Sali’s family has made a living by working as an interior designer. At least until seven months ago, when his 22-year-old sister, Nanci, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. A minimum of $20,000 is needed for treatment and you need to fly to Istanbul. In theory, there is no shortage of money. In practice, however, it is not possible to have them from the bank.
On September 12, Sali made a first attempt. She went to the counter and asked to withdraw the amount, explaining the situation to her sister. No way. Back at home, intuition: When she saw her little cousin playing with a plastic gun, she decided to use it to simulate a robbery. Two days later, she returned to the same branch and came out with a check for $13,000 in her hand and even a regular receipt in her pocket.
At this point, however, he had to go into hiding. And here is the second intuition. Lebanese police officers are now dealing with the same sort of robberies constantly, disgruntled citizens who just want their money turned into bandits – at least seven in the last week alone, so much so that in the last three days all the banks have been closed . In short, they are so well trained that within hours they surrounded the girl’s house. In the meantime, however, he had shared an old photo of himself on Facebook that was taken at the airport to pretend he was fleeing to Turkey. The agents believed her and left immediately. Some of them were still there when Sali left the house, covered in a veil and with a pillow on their stomachs to simulate pregnancy.
The daring escape continued up to the heights of the Beqa Valley in the northeast of the country. L Sali was still in hiding along with her sister Ekraam, who acted as her accomplice. Tracked down by Portal, she told her version: We’re not criminals. We have the money, but the banks are stealing it from us. Opinion of many Lebanese who think they are a female Robin Hood: Maybe they think I’m a hero for taking what was rightfully mine.
Sali has also found someone to help her live in the bush. Who brings her a cake, who gives her apples, who takes her mind off her worries, not so much about her future but about that of the Nanci who have not yet been treated. But he has no regrets: I had four choices: let me die, get the money in a morally unacceptable way, watch my sister die, or do what I did. I just chose the latter path. And, he concludes, I would do it again.
September 22, 2022 (Change September 22, 2022 | 15:40)
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