Middle East News: Lebanese man who held up bank to access savings released without charge – Gulf Digital News

Middle East News: Lebanese man who held up bank to access savings released without charge – Gulf Digital News

BEIRUT - A Lebanese judge has ordered the release from detention without charge of man who last week took hostages at a Beirut bank in an attempt to access his savings frozen after the country's 2019 financial implosion, the man's brother and a legal group said.

Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, 42, entered the Federal Bank of Lebanon branch in Beirut's Hamra district on Thursday and threatened employees with a firearm, agreeing to leave only after the bank pledged to give him $35,000 out of a total of his more than $200,000 deposit.

He said he needed the funds to pay a relative's hospital bills.

Hussein was detained Thursday following the release of all six hostages but released Tuesday afternoon without any charges being brought against him, his brother Atef told Reuters and legal watchdog group Legal Agenda reported.

"He is sitting with his family now and just relaxing a bit. There is no charge against him and he is a free man," Atef Hussein said.

The judge in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the circumstances surrounding Hussein’s release.

According to Fouad Debs, the lawyer who represented Hussein last week, the bank pressed charges on Friday and dropped them by Tuesday.

Debs