The death of a young Iranian man who himself burned a photo of the country’s Supreme Leader has sparked a war of words between how he died.
Official government websites reported that Morlak, who was 20 years old, was found in his car on Saturday with gunshot wounds on his head and hands. Iranian police said Sarlak “died by suicide”.
But the anti-government government media and activists spoke at the time of death, so soon after he publicly executed against the government, raising doubts if he was killed for his views.
Hours before Sarlak’s body was found, a video posted on his social media account showed him burning a photo of Phamic Republic leader Ali Khamenei.
The furore posed a threat to the regime, with Sarlak becoming an icon for activists, many of whom followed him by burning photos of Khamenei in solidarity online.
Doubts grew after a widespread video showed Sarlak’s father reportedly saying at the site of his son’s death: “They killed my champion here.” An off-screen voice in the same clip is heard saying he was “surrounded and shot”.
Later, in a televised speech broadcast by the father of the state, Sarlak’s father asked people to “ignore what is circulating on social media and let the judicial authorities handle this matter”. Activists called the video forced and said the family was humiliated.
Hundreds of mourners who attended Sarlak’s funeral on Monday demonstrated and chanted slogans such as “death to the dictator” and “death to Khamenei”.
In the clip shared on Sarlak’s Instagram just before his death, a recording can be heard in the background of a speech by the former Shah, Mohammad Rezi. In 1979, Pahlavi fled to Iran, where Islamic power took power that same year. Some anti-government activists are nostalgic for the monarchy.
In another one of his last stories on Instagram, he wrote: “How long can we endure humiliation, poverty and deprivation of yourself, these people. Young people.
Sarlak is an Aviation student and an amateur boxer. One of his friends, Iranian Wrestler Ebrahim Eshaghili, said that Sarlak spoke to him on Instagram before his death. “He sent me a message that his life is in danger and if something happens to him, we need to be his voice.”
Eshaghi, who lives in Germany, said that since his death some of Sarlak’s close friends have said they believe he was killed by the intelligence services.
“He loves life and has an upcoming boxing competition in two weeks. He loves the Pahlavi family and also supports the regime, athletic people, something it has done for many years.”
Sarlak’s death reignites some of the same pain and anger that emerged after the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, a Kurry woman arrested in 2022, who protested in the country.
Bahar Ghandehari, director of advocacy at the US-based center for human rights, said that the insults of the Supreme Court of Iran, which harassed the Supreme Court of Driaring, Damage to the Supreme Court
In a video shared by the Guardian in the context of the announcement, two men burned images of Khamenei, saying: “We were killed for justice, for hope.
The editor of Amirkabir Newsletter, a website of the Iranian movement in Iran said that students did not have protests in the universities of the death of Sarlak “because the atmosphere in the campuses remains stable”.
The editor, who has no public profile to protect them and their staff while operating inside Iran, said they believe there will be a “serious protest” this year or early next year. “Day by day, people’s anger because of the killing of thousands of innocent people is growing, and they are saddened and angry,” they said.
In fact, Raza Pahlavi, the exiled eldest son of the former Saul called Sarlak is a hero and a brave soul who stood against the “tyranny of the ISLAIC Republic and sacrificed his life for the freedom of Iran”.