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Omid Sarlak’s family and campaigners do not believe the young man died by suicide (Picture: Iran International) The death of an Iranian man shortly after he posted a controversial video featuring the country’s supreme leader has sparked rumours over state involvement. Omid Sarlak, from Iran’s western Lorestan province, defied the strict Islamic republic’s government by taking to social media with an incendiary video clip. It shows him holding a large poster of Iran’s highest leader, Ali Khamenei, overlaid with the voice of the last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who fled to exile during the Islamic Revolution. He then takes a lighter to the poster and sets the picture on fire. The video posted by Sarlak was seen as an act of defiance (Picture: Instagram) Sarlak had also reportedly called for ‘death to Khamenei’ in another Instagram post, and urged young people to step up against the ruling clerics whom he described as ‘nothing but a stream for Iran’s youth to cross.’ But it is thought that Sarlak was found dead some hours after making his posts, the Iran International reports. Police in Aligoudarz, his hometown, said yesterday they discovered the body of a young man inside a vehicle near a sports stadium, although his identity was not confirmed. The young man set the picture of the Iranian supreme leader on fire (Picture: Instagram) His video was overlaid with words from the last Shah of Iran, who fled the country during the Islamic Revolution (Picture: Instagram) Ali Asadollahi, the police commander, said he had ‘taken his own life with a handgun,’ and that an investigation would confirm the exact cause. But social media sleuths were quick to challenge the police’s suicide theory. Some claimed that the authorities had refused to hand over his body to Sarlak’s family and that they were allegedly pressured to support their suicide narrative. Ali Khamenei has been Iran’s highest ruler since 1989 (Credits: Iranian Supreme Leader’S Office/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock) Mourners gathered for Sarlak’s funeral today, where chants of ‘death to Khamenei’ and ‘death to the dictator’ rang out. Others reportedly cited verses from a 10th-century Persian poet, Ferdowsi, with words about heroism and resistance to tyranny. Sarlak’s dad visited the location where his body was reportedly found and said ‘they killed my champion here.’ Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.
