<p>Two Iranian ex-prisoners have opened a successful "jail restaurant" to help raise funds to free convicts languishing behind bars for unpaid debts.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>The idea of the restaurant was hatched in prison.</p>.<p>"I met my partner while we were in police custody," Benyamin Nakhat, 31, told <em>AFP</em>. "I was working at the iron market in Tehran but I went bankrupt. I found myself penniless."</p>.<p>His business partner, Arman Alizadeh, a 30-year-old exporter, was also drowning in debt.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Two years after their release, the jail time friends opened Cell 16, with its separate dining tables behind bars.</p>.<p>"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.</p>.<p>"Inmates are sometimes people who haven't committed crimes but have had misfortune. It can happen to anyone."</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>But the owners have not forgotten their comrades in trouble.</p>.<p>"We want to help inmates by raising funds," Alizadeh said. "We help indebted prisoners by sometimes launching campaigns for help from donors or clients.</p>.<p>"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."</p>.<p>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."</p>.<p>Several associations and celebrities are involved in such charities.</p>.<p>According to state news agency <em>IRNA</em>, last year $130 million were donated to repay the debts of thousands of prisoners.</p>.<p>Cell 16 also employs newly-released ex-cons.</p>.<p>Accompanied by her two friends, diner Hasti Berjissian, 24, a purchasing manager in a factory, likes the concept.</p>.<p>"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."</p>.<p>In another cell, Shiva Shemshaki, 33, celebrated her husband's birthday.</p>.<p>"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."</p>.<p><strong>Check out latest DH videos here</strong></p>
<p>Two Iranian ex-prisoners have opened a successful "jail restaurant" to help raise funds to free convicts languishing behind bars for unpaid debts.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>The idea of the restaurant was hatched in prison.</p>.<p>"I met my partner while we were in police custody," Benyamin Nakhat, 31, told <em>AFP</em>. "I was working at the iron market in Tehran but I went bankrupt. I found myself penniless."</p>.<p>His business partner, Arman Alizadeh, a 30-year-old exporter, was also drowning in debt.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Two years after their release, the jail time friends opened Cell 16, with its separate dining tables behind bars.</p>.<p>"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.</p>.<p>"Inmates are sometimes people who haven't committed crimes but have had misfortune. It can happen to anyone."</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>But the owners have not forgotten their comrades in trouble.</p>.<p>"We want to help inmates by raising funds," Alizadeh said. "We help indebted prisoners by sometimes launching campaigns for help from donors or clients.</p>.<p>"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."</p>.<p>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."</p>.<p>Several associations and celebrities are involved in such charities.</p>.<p>According to state news agency <em>IRNA</em>, last year $130 million were donated to repay the debts of thousands of prisoners.</p>.<p>Cell 16 also employs newly-released ex-cons.</p>.<p>Accompanied by her two friends, diner Hasti Berjissian, 24, a purchasing manager in a factory, likes the concept.</p>.<p>"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."</p>.<p>In another cell, Shiva Shemshaki, 33, celebrated her husband's birthday.</p>.<p>"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."</p>.<p><strong>Check out latest DH videos here</strong></p>