The worlds longest-held hostages
The week's news at a glance.
Iran
Abu Hashem
Keyhan
Every time a Western hostage is taken in Iraq, said Abu Hashem in Tehran’s Keyhan, an international protest is lodged. Yet there is no such sympathy for Muslim hostages taken by Christians and Jews. The world has forgotten the five Iranians who were kidnapped in Lebanon decades ago and still have not returned home. Three diplomats and one journalist, along with their driver, were snatched off the streets of Beirut in 1982 by Christian Phalangists “allied with the U.S. and acting on behalf of the illegal Zionist entity called Israel.” Now, 23 years later, freed Palestinian prisoners say they have seen the five languishing in an Israeli jail. Since the Iranians can’t possibly have any intelligence that would be relevant in 2005, they are being held only out of spite. “Given the bestial nature of the Zionists and the Americans,” they are probably being tortured or experimented on “like laboratory guinea pigs.” Of course, the “racist Zionist regime” has consistently denied that the Iranians are there. So the Iranian government must take the issue to the U.N. “The dignity of the nation is at stake.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?
Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
The pros and cons of banning cellphones in classrooms
Pros and cons The devices could be major distractions
-
Art review: Lorna Simpson: Source Notes
Feature Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, through Nov. 2