TEHRAN – Poet Ahmad Azizi who mostly known for his new style in composing masnavi, died in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah on Monday nine years after falling into a coma following a stroke. He was 59.

Azizi was hospitalized in the Imam Reza Hospital where his sister Zeinab had been taking care of him all these years.

President Hassan Rouhani, offered condolences to the Azizi’s family in a message published by Persian media.

“Azizi, who was one of the pioneers of the ritual poetry, had a great influence on the growth of contemporary poetry with his precious literary works. His works will remain as an eternal part of the great treasure of culture and literature of Islamic Iran,” President wrote in his message.

In a message of condolences, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Reza Salehi-Amiri called the death of the poet a great loss.

“This great poet, who composed poetry with a revolutionary and religious perspective, was regarded as a popular poet of the Islamic Revolution, and he will surely be missed,” part of the message reads.

Deputy Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs Abbas Salehi expressed his condolences in a separate message, and said that his memory would live on forever.

He asked the poets and the guests attending the closing ceremony of the 11th Fajr International Poetry Festival, which ends in Mashhad today, to pay tribute to the poet.

Azizi was born in 1958 in Sar-e Pol-e Zahab in Kermanshah Province. His family moved to Tehran with the beginning of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war and he began to work with the Javanan magazine, composing poetry.

Azizi’s poetry has been mingled with Islamic mysticism, and his new style has had a great influence on the contemporary poetry. 

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who had traveled to the western Iranian city of Kermanshah in October 2011, paid a visit to Azizi in the hospital.

RM/YAW