Baktash Abtin

Age: Extrajudicially killed at 48 due to medical care denial 

Activism/rights: Writer, poet, filmmaker

Status: Deceased

Judicial status: 6 years imprisonment at the time of death

Violations: Arbitrary arrest and detention, prolonged solitary confinement, lack of due process, unfair trial, access to lawyer, denial of medical care

Baktash Abtin is a filmmaker and member of the Iranian Writers Association (IWA). In 2015, his home was raided and his written work and materials seized and he was briefly detained as he could not afford the bail set. He appeared before Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Moghiseh with his co-defendants and IWA colleagues, Reza Khandan Mahabadi and Keyvan Bajan 22 January 2019. Baktash was sentenced to five years imprisonment for “assembly and collusion against national security” and a year for”propaganda against the system'' by the same court on 15 May 2019. His sentence was upheld by Judge Ahmad Zargar when it was heard before Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeal in December 2019. Baktash was arrested and transferred to serve his sentence in Evin Prison on 26 September 2020. He was prevented from receiving outside treatment for pain in his groin area for four months before he was finally transferred to the Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital on July 18, where he was shackled to the bed. Baktash and his IWA colleagues have received widespread support from both civil society and the literary world. On 16 September 2021, they were honoured with the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. Baktash Abtin contracted COVID-19 for the second time in early December 2021 but was denied medical treatment and furlough by Evin Prison authorities until December 13 when he was transferred to a hospital. He went into a medically induced coma on 1 January 2022 and passed away on January 8. Iran Human Rights considers his death to be an extrajudicial killing. To date, nobody has been held accountable.