About the suspicious death of Hassan Heydari, 29, one of his relatives said: Hassan was initially poisoned, we took him to the hospital at midnight and the nurses tried to help him in the early moments, but the early morning he got a shock. The next day his condition worsened and we were told that he had been poisoned. His relatives also said: Hassan was healthy, had no heart disease or problems and the regime’s security agencies had a hand in his death. Hassan Heydari was arrested several times for his epic poems in opposition to the regime by the infamous Intelligence Ministry in Ahvaz. He was previously detained in August 2018 and released on bail.

Videos published on social media showed massive protests in Kut-e Abdollah in Ahvaz city because of his death.

The people tweeted: Ahvaz did not remain silent about the crime of killing young poet Hassan Heydari. The Islamic Republic must pay for its crimes. that’s enough! pic.twitter.com/MxcmtnDtlc

Protesters say the death of Hassan Heydari, a poet who criticized the regime, is suspicious. The poet had been arrested several times, most recently with Shahab Belawi, another Iranian Arab poet, during this year’s floods. Unofficial reports indicate that Shahab Belawi is still in custody.

But as usual, regime officials denied his suspected death and said that the turnout in the Ahvaz rally on Monday was because of the poet’s popularity, claiming that the people were gathering to say their “condolences”.

Separately, two Iranian Ahvazi residents, Benjamin Alboghbish and his brother Mohammad Ali Alboghbish, were arrested by intelligence officials on 26 May 2019. Their death was declared to their family by security officials on 26 June 2019.

According to the Amnesty International’s investigations, at least 11 suspected deaths have occurred in Iran since December 2017.