Suspect in Beirut bank hostage standoff demanded to withdraw his own money, police say
An armed man demanding a Beirut financial institution let him withdraw his trapped financial savings to pay his father’s medical payments took as much as 10 individuals hostage in a seven-hour standoff Thursday earlier than surrendering in trade for what a household lawyer stated was $35,000 US of his cash.
Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, a 42-year-old food-delivery driver, was promptly arrested as he walked out of the financial institution. Nobody was injured.
Hussein’s spouse, Mariam Chehadi, who was standing outdoors the financial institution, advised reporters after his arrest that her husband “did what he needed to do.”
The hostage drama within the metropolis’s bustling Hamra district was the most recent painful episode in Lebanon’s financial free-fall, now in its third yr. The nation’s cash-strapped banks since 2019 have slapped strict limits on withdrawals of international forex property, tying up the financial savings of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
Dozens of protesters gathered in the course of the standoff, chanting slogans towards the Lebanese authorities and banks, hoping that the armed man would obtain his financial savings. Some bystanders hailed him as a hero.
Authorities stated Hussein entered the financial institution with a shotgun and a canister of gasoline, fired three warning pictures and locked himself in along with his 10 hostages, threatening to set himself on fireplace until he was allowed to take out his cash.
Hussein had $210,000 US trapped within the financial institution and been struggling to withdraw his cash to pay his father’s medical payments, stated Hassan Moghnieh, who took half within the negotiations as the pinnacle of the advocacy group the Affiliation of Depositors in Lebanon.
Hussein’s brother, Atef al-Sheikh Hussein, waited outdoors the financial institution in the course of the standoff.
“My brother just isn’t a scoundrel. He’s a good man. He takes what he has from his personal pocket to provide to others,” he stated.
After hours of negotiations, Hussein accepted a proposal for a part of his financial savings, and the financial institution handed over $35,000 US to his brother, in accordance with Dina Abou Zour, a lawyer and activist representing the Hussein household.
Federal financial institution lawyer Roy Madkour refused to debate the phrases of the negotiations. “The matter now rests with the judiciary, and they’re going to resolve,” he stated.
Lebanese troopers, officers from the nation’s Inner Safety Forces and intelligence brokers converged on the realm in the course of the standoff. Seven or eight financial institution workers have been taken hostage together with two clients, George al-Haj, head of the Financial institution Workers Syndicate, advised native media.
Lebanon is affected by the worst financial disaster in its fashionable historical past.
Three-quarters of the inhabitants has plunged into poverty, and the Lebanese pound has declined in worth by greater than 90 per cent towards the U.S. greenback.
Folks in Lebanon are offended on the authorities over an financial disaster that has brought about fuel shortages and forex losses, all of which have been made worse by final yr’s devastating explosion and continued corruption.
“What led us to this case is the state’s failure to resolve this financial disaster and the banks’ and Central Financial institution’s actions, the place individuals can solely retrieve a few of their very own cash as if it is a weekly allowance,” stated Abou Zour, who’s a lawyer with the advocacy group Depositors’ Union.
“This has led to individuals taking issues into their very own arms,” she stated.
In January, a espresso store proprietor withdrew $50,000 US trapped in a financial institution in Lebanon after taking workers hostage and threatening to kill them.
