Why do you assume he is dead? It ended as a cliffhanger, and I would be shocked if they let go of that character.

It would be very hard to walk back that shooting to have Jamal live.....

But I would not be surprised.

If the show had balls (it does not), it would have Barry in power, trying to modernize/Westernize the country, but have to go against the hardliners, the religion, etc. And if it REALLY had balls, it could do it and show how he (Barry) would appear to be a tyrant to his people because of how he is trying to change the country.

He looked pretty screwed to me. I guess they could always bring him back. Him being dead might be more interesting, though. In theory, since Jamal didn't relinquish power to anybody, then power would pass down to his son, not Barry. In fact, that can be why Leila was asking Barry to let Jamal die. Jamal's top general would certainly prefer that since he was about to get hung out to dry by Jamal's retirement, so he'd own the military.