Prominent Iranian poet Simin Behbahani died on August 19 in Tehran at the age of 87.
ISNA reports that her son, Ali Behbahani, announced that news of his mother’s passing, which was confirmed by the Pars Hospital.
Behbahani sank into a coma on August 6 and was hospitalized until her passing today, Tuesday.
Simin Khalili, who wrote as Simin Behbahani, was born in Tehran in 1927 and began writing poetry at the age of 12. She became known as the Queen of the Iranian ghazal (sonnet).
Behbahani was a staunch defender of freedom of speech and women’s rights. She was briefly banned from traveling abroad after the election protests of 2009 and was prevented from traveling to Paris to give a speech on International Women’s Day.
Selections of Behbahani’s poetry have been translated into English by Farzaneh Milani at the University of Virginia.
