Word: abdi
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...what happened, so why should the hostages? But rather than carry resentment around for the rest of his life, Rosen has decided to make a remarkable gesture of reconciliation. This Friday at a conference in a U.N. building in Paris, he will come face to face with Abbas Abdi, one of the dozen student leaders who planned and directed the hostage taking. As the dramatic meeting unfolds, the former hostage and his former captor will give talks on U.S.-Iranian relations, sit down for meals together and probably even shake hands...
...healing is sure to be criticized by hard-liners in Iran and by many Americans, perhaps including other ex-hostages. Both men are attending as private citizens and do not represent their governments or any groups. In interviews conducted by TIME with Rosen in New York City and Abdi in Tehran, they said they were encouraged to meet after Iranian President Mohammed Khatami's call last January--quickly taken up by President Clinton--for cultural exchanges aimed at bringing down the "wall of mistrust" between their two nations...
...idea for the meeting originated with Iranian moderates who were friends of Abdi's. They approached a Cyprus-based human-rights group called the Center for World Dialogue, which organized the conference and invited Rosen. Although the two men are still poles apart in their thinking, they welcomed the chance to put the past behind them and help their countries build fresh ties. "I am not naive about Iran, but I think it is important to understand one another's feelings," says Rosen, 54, director of public affairs for Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York City...
That is easier said than done. Plans for a London meeting were aborted when British authorities refused Abdi a visa. He has had to make his preparations in utmost secrecy lest Iran's still powerful hard-liners detain him before his departure for France. Once a fervent supporter of Iran's clerical regime, Abdi was arrested in 1993 and spent nearly a year in prison for criticizing the mullahs' aversion to democracy...
...encourage every member of the senior class not to blindly open their checkbooks, but to think about what they have gained from Harvard and to understand the financial backing behind it. Only when this happens will we consider our job a successfully completed one. Jabbar Abdi '94 Samantha Ettus '94 Senior Gift Co-Chairs