A young man in Western Iran was found dead shortly after posting a video of himself burning a photo of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in an incident police called suicide but social media users branded a state killing.

Axar.az reports, citing Iran International, the police commander of Sarlak's hometown Aligoudarz in Lorestan province announced on Sunday that the body of a young man had been found inside a vehicle near Araslan Goodarzi Stadium, without mentioning his identity.

Ali Asadollahi said the man had “taken his own life with a handgun,” adding that the case was under forensic police investigation to determine motive and exact cause.

Several social media users identified the young man as Omid Sarlak, saying that authorities had refused to hand over his body to his family and were pressuring them to confirm the official suicide narrative.