Sattar Beheshti

During an interview in 2018, ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the story of a national security council session after the death of Sattar Beheshti:

In march of 2014 on International Women's Day, Catherine Ashton as EU foreign policy chief visited Gohar Eshghi—mother of Sattar Beheshti—and some other Iranian women activists. This meeting infuriated hardliners in Tehran. Iran warned Austrian embassy over Ashton meeting. Javan newspaper, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, censored Gohar Esghi's face from a photograph of the meeting. The doctored picture went viral on social media. Later Javan defended its action by saying they "did not want to introduce her as a seditionist". Sadegh Larijani, the head of Iran’s judiciary, said "If it is to be that this will continue—trips such as these—and actions to take place against the security interests of the country, the judiciary will take action, and the Foreign Ministry will be responsible for the future consequences."

On November 6, authorities "told the blogger's family to collect his body". He reportedly died on November 3. The week of November 4–10, 41 prisoners from Ward 350 of Tehran's Evin prison, where Beheshti was reportedly held for one night, issued a letter "claiming that signs of torture were visible on the blogger's body".

Seyyed Sattar Beheshti (Persian: سید ستار بهشتی ‎) was an Iranian blogger who died in early November 2012 several days after being arrested by the Iranian Cyber Police unit for criticizing the government of the Islamic Republic on Facebook, and after making a signed complaint of being tortured while in custody. His reported death has drawn international condemnation and led to the dismissal of the commander of Iran's cybercrimes police unit.

On October 22, 2012, Beheshti posted a criticism of the Islamic Republic on his blog addressed to the Supreme Leader. Beheshti stated that the judicial system of the Islamic Republic was "nothing but a slaughterhouse," and that "the sentences and ... the executions carried out ... were not out of a desire for justice – but were aimed at terrorizing the people so that no one will complain."

Prior to death of Mr. Beheshti, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad planned to visit Evin prison in October 7, 2012 but the judiciary officials postponed the visit. in October 20, 2012 Ahmadinejad asked the head of judiciary system Sadeq Amoli-Larijani to facilitate this visit, Larijani rejected the president's request even after Ahmadinejad publicly expressed deep concerns about violation of law and civil rights of prisoners and threatened to fully cut the budget of judiciary system.

Sattar Beheshti died shortly after that in October 30, 2012.

Beheshti is believed to be the 18th prisoner to have died in custody in the Islamic Republic since 2003.

Sattar Beheshti was born in 1977 and lived in Robat Karim, 27 km southwest of Tehran. According to Hamid Dabashi he was "a labourer from a working class family". Opposition websites report that he had been detained in 1999 after student protests at Tehran University.