A US survivor of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis has ended his hunger strike in support of political prisoners held by Tehran.
Barry Rosen, 77, a former US diplomat, went on hunger strike for five days and was joined by current former inmates. They will continue their protest.
Mr Rosen had been on strike to demand the release of US, British, French, German, Austrian and Swedish prisoners in Iran.
He said that no agreement should be reached to revive the 2015 nuclear deal without their release.
He ended his protest at the request of his family after the lead US nuclear negotiator said no deal was likely to be struck with Iran without the release of the hostages.
On Monday, the US special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, told Reuters it would be “very hard” to get back to the deal while four Americans were held.
Mr Rosen was one of more than 50 US diplomats held during the 1979-81 hostage crisis. He started his strike to mark 41 years since his release after 44 days in Washington’s embassy in Tehran.
He said at least 24 western prisoners remain in Iran and were being used as bargaining chips by the regime.
Detained British prisoner Anoosheh Ashoori, 67, who is being held in Tehran’s Evin jail, will continue to refuse food after starting a hunger strike on Sunday. He has been held for more than four years on charges of spying for Israel.
“Needless to say, we are extremely concerned for his physical health as he approaches his 68th birthday,” his wife, Sherry Izadi, said. She said her husband felt he had little option other than to start a hunger strike in “the hope of bringing global attention to the plight of these individuals held by Iran”.
Nizar Zakka, a former prisoner from Lebanon who was released in 2019, has joined the protest along with Kamran Ghaderi, who holds Austrian and Iranian citizenship. He was arrested in January 2016 while on a routine business trip.
The prosecution used a coerced confession by Mr Ghaderi to secure a 10-year prison sentence against him in the Revolutionary Court, where he was tried for “conducting espionage for enemy states”.
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Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
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It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
