Iranian journalist and social activist Reza Hoda Saber, who had suffered a heart attack following a hunger strike at Evin Prison, died today at Modarres Hospital in Tehran.
The Kaleme opposition website reports that Saber “was transferred from Evin Prison to Modarres Hospital for treatment of the cardiac complication brought on by his hunger strike. But the damage was too severe.”
According to some media sources, it was the prison authorities’ delay in transferring Saber to hospital that made it impossible for the physicians to save him.
The deceased journalist’s body was identified by his sister at the hospital, ISNA reports.
Saber and his fellow Nationalist-religious activist Amir Khosro Delirsani began a hunger strike on June 2, after Haleh Sahabi, the daughter of deceased Nationalist-Religious leader Ezzatollah Sahabi, died during an attack on her father’s funeral by government forces.
Saber had been arrested several times since 2000 for his political activities. Most recently he was arrested last August and was being held in Ward 350 of the Evin Prison, following three months of solitary confinement.
