Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Iran ‘jail restaurant’ aims to free ‘bad debt’ prisoners

Iran ‘jail restaurant’ aims to free ‘bad debt’ prisoners

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Iranians dine at restaurant-prison ‘Cell 16’ in eastern Tehran on Friday. Part of the business proceeds is used to free those languishing in Iranian jails for unpaid debts. AFP

Iran ‘jail restaurant’ aims to free ‘bad debt’ prisoners

Two Iranian ex-prisoners have opened a successful “jail restaurant” to help raise funds to free convicts languishing behind bars for unpaid debts.

A storefront picture of their “Cell 16” diner in eastern Tehran shows a frustrated prisoner holding a chicken leg in one hand and trying with the other to bend the bars of his cell to escape.

The idea of the restaurant was hatched in prison.

“I met my partner while we were in police custody,” Benyamin Nakhat, 31, said. “I was working at the iron market in Tehran but I went bankrupt. I found myself penniless.”

His business partner, Arman Alizadeh, a 30-year-old exporter, was also drowning in debt.

Iranian law is harsh on writing cheques that bounce, and on failure to pay agreed dowries or bank loans: it’s jail time until the money is repaid.

More than 11,000 Iranians are behind bars for failing to pay their debts, according to prison officials. That is almost five per cent of Iran’s total prison population.

Two years after their release, the jail time friends opened Cell 16, with its separate dining tables behind bars.

“Decorating the place was easy, we just reproduced the place where we’d been held,” Nakhat said, smiling. “We wanted to show that prison isn’t necessarily a place filled with bad guys.

“Inmates are sometimes people who haven’t committed crimes but have had misfortune. It can happen to anyone.”

With the help of social media, the business has been a success, having first opened in 2016 with just seven “cell” tables. It has expanded to two more eateries, in Tehran and the central city of Isfahan.

But the owners have not forgotten their comrades in trouble.

“We want to help inmates by raising funds,” Alizadeh said. “We help indebted prisoners by sometimes launching campaigns for help from donors or clients.

“We post the requests on our Instagram page and everyone contributes in their own way. Parts of the restaurant’s proceeds will also be used to help free prisoners.”

He added that “it’s often the wives of prisoners who seek help. We choose those who seem to us to have priority: for example, a married person with children, or sick persons unable to work to repay a loan.”

Several associations and celebrities are involved in such charities.

According to state news agency IRNA, last year $130 million were donated to repay the debts of thousands of prisoners.

Cell 16 also employs newly-released ex-cons.

Accompanied by her two friends, diner Hasti Berjissian, 24, a purchasing manager in a factory, likes the concept.

“We’ve been coming here since it opened,” she said, taking a bite of pizza. “The food is good but above all, we want to help the prisoners.”

In another cell, Shiva Shemshaki, 33, celebrated her husband’s birthday.

“I come because a friend of ours has been in prison for nine months for unpaid debts,” she said. “He had bought some goods but, because of inflation, he was ruined.”

MOST VIEWED

  • 12th Cambodia int’l film festival to see return of Hollywood star

    Phnom Penh is set to come alive with the magic of cinema as the highly anticipated 12th Cambodia International Film Festival (CIFF) takes centre stage. Boasting an impressive line-up of 188 films from 23 countries, including captivating shorts, feature films, documentaries and animation, the festival promises an

  • Bareknuckle champion wants Kun Khmer fighter

    Dave Leduc, who is the current openweight Lethwei boxing champion in Myanmar, has announced that he will travel to Cambodia this year to challenge SEA Games gold medallist Prum Samnang any time that is convenient, after their planned match later this month in Slovakia was

  • Fresh Covid warnings as Thai hospital fills

    A senior health official reminds the public to remain vigilant, as neighbouring countries experience an increase in Covid-19 cases, with the latest surge appearing to be a result of the Omicron XBB.1.5 sub-variant. Or Vandine, secretary of state and spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health,

  • Struggling Battambang artist dreams of staging full-scale gallery exhibition

    Leav Kimchhoth, a 55-year-old artist from Battambang province, is a familiar face to locals and tourists alike on the streets of the riverside in Phnom Penh. The one-armed painter and illustrator often hawks his work near the night market on weekends and public holidays. He

  • 1.4 billion dollar Phnom Penh-Bavet expressway due in four years

    The Government, through the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, has officially signed a public-private partnership agreement with a private company for the construction of a Phnom Penh-Bavet Expressway project that will connect the capital to Svay Rieng province. The budget for the project is

  • New Law on Taxation comes into effect

    Cambodia has enacted the eagerly-awaited new Law on Taxation, which aims to improve the national tax regime’s compliance with present and future international standards and economic conditions; encourage accountability, effectiveness and transparency in the collection process; and promote investment in the Kingdom. King Norodom