France, Britain, and the human rights group Amnesty International are calling on Iranian authorities to investigate reports of the death in custody of an antigovernment blogger.

Iranian opposition groups say Sattar Beheshti's family was asked on November 7 to collect his body.

Amnesty International said fears that Beheshti died as a result of torture in an Iranian detention facility are “very plausible, given Iran's track record when it comes to deaths in custody.”

Before his arrest at the end of October, Beheshti wrote a blog post saying he was being threatened by Iranian security services.

A French Foreign Ministry spokesman said his government is "profoundly shocked" by the reports of Beheshti's death.