13 Jun 2011

Death of hunger striker in Iran

10:00 pm on 13 June 2011

An Iranian dissident has died in prison after going on a hunger strike earlier this month.

Hoda Saber began his hunger strike on 2 June in protest at the death of opposition activist, Haleh Sahabi, during an incident at her father's funeral on 1 June. She had been allowed out of prison to attend the ceremony.

Her death provoked outrage amongst the Iranian opposition, who said she fell to the ground after a scuffle with security forces and then died of a heart attack.

The BBC reports that Mr Saber, who was in his 50s, was jailed after the disputed 2009 elections that saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected.

He had also served several prison terms since 2000.

Another leading dissident, Ezatollah Sahabi, 81, died of a stroke on 30 May.