Baktash Abtin, dissident Iranian poet, dies of Covid on prison furlough

Abtin’s death was ‘aided and abetted’ by the Iran’s government, says US human rights group PEN America

The dissident Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin has died of Covid-19 in hospital after being released on a furlough from prison where he was infected.

Abtin was transferred to hospital in the capital Tehran “but the treatment did not succeed and he died”, the semi-official ISNA news agency said on Saturday.