Iranian writer dies in detention after Covid infection

PARIS: Dissident Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin has died in detention in Tehran after falling ill with Covid-19, rights groups said on Saturday, blaming the Islamic republic’s leadership for his death.

"Baktash Abtin has died," the Iranian Writers Association said in a statement on its Telegram channel after the author was put into an induced coma in hospital earlier in the week.

Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) confirmed his death in a statement on Twitter, saying he "had been unjustly sentenced to six years in prison and was in detention in hospital, ill with Covid-19 and deprived of the necessary care."

"RSF blames the regime’s authorities for his death," it added, posting a picture of Abtin in striped Iranian prison uniform shackled by his leg to a hospital bed.