PROGRESSIVE circles in Iran are mourning the death of widely respected socialist economist Fariborz Raisdana yesterday morning.

Professor Raisdana, 71, who taught at Tehran University for many years, died in the Iranian capital’s Pars hospital after a six-day struggle with coronavirus.

He was released from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison in April 2013 after serving a one-year term for criticising the economic policies of then president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — who had removed state subsidies on basic goods and energy supplies — in a televised interview.

Among other charges, Prof Raisdana was accused of having insulted the unpopular president live on air. 

In addition to his expertise on Iran’s economy, he was a consistent critic of neoliberal economics and the policies of successive governments there over three decades.

He was a member of the Iranian Writers Association, serving as president for several years.

While in detention, he famously issued an open challenge to Iranian MPs on the truth and validity of their assurances regarding the treatment of political prisoners.

In a strongly worded response to a report by the MPs, he said: “You have deliberately distorted the realities that exist within Iranian prisons. Here, the rights of political prisoners are gravely violated.”

A number of Iran’s cabinet ministers, MPs and Health Ministry officials have caught the virus.

Leading cleric Ayatollah Hashem Bathaei-Golpaygani, a member of the assembly of experts that appoints the country’s supreme leader, died yesterday after contracting the virus.

At least 14,991 people have been infected, of whom 4,996 have recovered and 853 have died, as of yesterday. The Health Ministry claimed to have screened about 10 million people in its efforts to contain the outbreak.