Famed Iranian poet Behbahani dies at ۸۷

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Famed Iranian poet Simin Behbahani, who wrote of the joys of love, demanded equal rights for women and spoke out about the challenges facing those living in her homeland, died Tuesday at the age of 87.
Behbahani had been hospitalized and unconscious in Tehran since Aug. 6 and later died of heart failure and breathing problems, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.
Behbahani, born Simin Khalili on July 20, 1927, saw her poetry often used by Iranian singers as the basis for love songs. Her poems came in a variety of styles, far from classical and routine forms normally associated with Persian prose.
However, Behbahani's work also focused on the challenges facing Iran in the wake of its Islamic Revolution in 1979 and women's rights, her strong words earning her the nickname of the "Lioness of Iran." Behbahani, who studied law at Tehran University in the 1950s, was awarded the Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women's Freedom in 2009 and was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
U.S. President Barack Obama even once recited her work in a video message in honor of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, saying: "Old I may be, but, given the chance, I will learn."
Saeed Hamidian, a literature professor at Tehran Allameh University, praised Behbahani for her focus on politics and societal issues. "We see strong social and political aspects in works of Behbahani in a capacity that does not exist in poems by other female poets," Hamidian said. "Behbahani's works have the entire power of a classical tone; however, it is not in a difficult language, too."
However, Behbahani's work also saw her targeted. In 2010, she was barred from leaving the country to attend an International Women's Day event in Paris.
In his 2011 video, Obama described Behbahani as "a woman whose words have moved the world."
Yet she remained a constant force in Iranian life.