Can fiction help an anti-death penalty campaign in Iran?

"The prisoners were all ears while Janyar recounted them an anecdote from [Dostoevsky's] ‘The Idiot.’ One inmate … however, looked as though he had been asleep for centuries. His eyes were open, but he was no longer seeing anything. What they had been all talking about had quietly and surreptitiously called on their inmate. It calls on everyone in a different way. Their inmate had died of a heart attack; as simple as that."

The above passage is part of "Jan” (“The Soul”), a 456-page semi-autobiographical work by prominent Iranian rights activist Emadeddin Baghi. Baghi’s description of death in the prison cell reflects his advocacy against the death penalty for more than three decades.