TEHRAN -- Hamid Sabzevari, an Iranian poet who is mostly known for the works composed in the heat of the Islamic Revolution and the early years after the historic event, died at the age of 91 at Tehran’s Asia Hospital on Friday night.

He was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.



“My father had left Tehran over the past few days to take a rest in Karaj; however, we transferred him to the hospital on Friday after his illness worsened and unfortunately he died at 10 p.m.,” Sabzevari’s son, Mohsen, told the Persian service of ISNA on Saturday.

Sabezvari’s fans and friends are scheduled to gather at Tehran’s Art Bureau on Monday to bid him farewell. He will then be transferred to Sabzevar to be buried in his hometown in Khorasan Razavi Province.

In his last will and testament, Sabzevari asked to be interred at his home in Sabzevar, Mohsen said.

He said that his family is negotiating with the officials of Sabzevar to persuade them to fulfill Sabzevari’s will.

Many Iranian officials, including Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati, Academy of Persian Language and Literature Director Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel and Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, offered condolences over the death of Sabzevari.

Born as Hossein Aqa-Momtaheni in 1925, Sabzevari began composing poetry at the age of 14. He composed poems in different styles including couplets, sonnets and blank verse.

In 1979, he composed “Khomeini, Oh Imam!” in praise of Imam Khomeini, the founder of Islamic Republic. The poem was performed and recorded by a group of students weeks before the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

He is the composer of “USA, USA, Shame on Your Deceits!”, which was performed by a chorus and solo tenor Esfandiar Qarabaghi after the occupation of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979.

His poem “This Is the Call of Freedom from the Orient” was performed by singer Mohammad Golriz after the victory of the revolution.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei once called Sabzevari “a talented poet who always supports the achievements of the Islamic Revolution in his works.”

In October 2012, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in collaboration with the Hakim Sabzevari University commemorated Sabzevari during a special ceremony in Sabzevar following a request from Ayatollah Khamenei.

Sabzevari made his last public appearance on May 17 this year at Tehran’s Imam Ali (AS) Religious Arts Museum, where a large number of literati gathered to commemorate him.

Photo: Poet Hamid Sabzevari in an undated photo (Tasnim/Hamed Malekpur)

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