Sattar Beheshti was detained in Evin prison for criticising government and died days after complaining of being tortured

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Iran's top cyber police chief has been sacked over the death in custody of blogger Sattar Beheshti, according to officials in Tehran.

Beheshti, 35, from the city of Robat-Karim, south-west of Tehran, was arrested on 30 October after using his blog and Facebook account to criticise the government. He was thrown into the notorious Evin prison where he died several days later, after complaining that he was tortured.

The head of Tehran's cyber police unit – named as Mohammad Hassan Shokrian by Press TV – was fired for "failures and weaknesses in adequately supervising personnel under his supervision", according to a statement posted on the website of Iran's police force on Saturday.

Last month, Iran's parliament announced it had launched an investigation into the case. Earlier this week, politician Mehdi Davatgari said the cyber police unit – known as Fata – had illegally detained Beheshti in custody without a court order.

Beheshti's mother has also said that while in jail, Beheshti, had no access to his family or a lawyer. She also claimed that the authorities had threatened the family with the arrest of Beheshti's sister should they speak to the media.

Authorities in the country have arrested seven people suspected of involvement in his death. A judiciary official said a medical examiners had found bruises on five parts of the blogger's body.

Human rights group Amnesty International has said Beheshti may have been tortured to death in custody, and has urged Tehran to investigate.