Dissident Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin in detention. (Twitter/@RSF_inter)

Iranian writer dies in detention after COVID-19 infection: Rights groups

Tehran

AFP

Published: 08 January ,2022: 04:57 PM GST Updated: 08 January ,2022: 05:39 PM GST

Dissident Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin, who was serving a jail sentence in Tehran on security charges, has died after falling ill with COVID-19, rights groups said Saturday.

“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 earlier in the week.

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Media rights group Reporters Without Borders confirmed his death in a statement on Twitter, saying it blamed the authorities for failing to save his life.

#Iran:RSF learned with sadness the death of #Baktash_Abtine. The writer and #journalist had been unjustly sentenced to 6 years in prison and was in detention in hospital, ill with #Covid19 & deprived of the necessary care. RSF blames the high regime's authorities for his death. pic.twitter.com/zNZ2l0rw1v
— RSF (@RSF_inter) January 8, 2022