Iran Focus
Ahmad Shamlou was admired for his marvellous poems since the time of the Shah.
State-run news agencies reported that unknown assailants had broken the stone on Shamlous tomb and that chunks of the stone were missing.
Many of Shamlous poems criticised the Shahs dictatorship with particular fervour, making him a hit in the eyes of Iranians.
A number of his poems passionately defended Iranian dissidents, some of whom were executed in the Shahs prisons.
Shamlous popularity continued after the 1979 Islamic revolution as he resisted pressures by Irans ayatollahs to stop writing about the persecution of dissidents and corruption by the officialdom.
He died in his home on July 23, 2000 at the age of 74.
