Ali Karami, 26, who was shot and killed by Iran’s security forces on January 8, had one wish: “If I die before my dog,” he said, “let her see my lifeless body.”

He said it in a video posted to Instagram in October 2024, narrating as he played tug-of-war with his dog, Ariel—laughing, absorbed in an ordinary moment of life.

Karami believed dogs understand death, and that without seeing him, she might think he had simply abandoned her.

He may have contemplated the possibility of dying young, but not like this—not shot in the street, his private reflection transformed into a national elegy.

Karami was an auto repair mechanic and a devoted dog lover who rescued stray animals. Originally from Kermanshah Province, in the country’s Kurdish region, he later moved to Tehran for school and work.