In 2005, after coming 18th nationally in Iran’s national university entrance exam, which takes tens of thousands of applicants each year, Ali Ajami studied law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Tehran. Ajami was also a left-wing student activist, calling for freedom and equality, and he was editor-in-chief of the student magazine “Better World” while also running a blog by the same name.

On February 9, 2010, while he was just 15 units (one semester) away from completing his masters degree in law, Ajami was beaten and arrested by security agents at his father's house. He was imprisoned for several weeks in the Sabzevar County Intelligence Department and the Ministry of Intelligence Detention Center in Mashhad, before being transferred to Evin Prison.

Ali Ajami was held in solitary confinement for the first 100 days of his imprisonment in Section 209 of Evin Prison, which is under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence. He was subsequently transferred to Evin’s Section 350.

Ajami was then tried in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Courts, presided over by Judge Salavati, on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “committing actions against national security.” He was initially sentenced to four years in prison. The sentence was later commuted to two years on appeal.

On January 28, 2011, Ajami was transferred to Cellblock 12, Section 3 of Rajai Shahr Prison, to begin serving his prison sentence. He was regularly denied the right to prison furlough, access to telephone calls and face-to-face visits. Ajami’s parents were able to see him only once every four months.

Ajami went on hunger strike on multiple occasions during his incarceration. On one occasion, along with five other political prisoners and 12 at Evin, Ajami went on hunger strike in July 2011 to protest against the deaths of two prominent political activists, Hoda Saber and Haleh Sahabi. He also suffered from various health problems in prison, including severe headaches and sudden drops in blood pressure; his physical condition reportedly deteriorated severely during this time.

The final stroke came when, at the end of his two-year prison sentence, Ajami was expelled from the University of Tehran and was barred from receiving his postgraduate degree and was unable to continue his education.

In February 2012, Ajami left Iran and lived in Turkey before eventually settling in the United States.

Ajami has worked from exile with the Human Rights Activists News Agency, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and IranWire. His work with these groups concerned recording the conditions of prisoners in Iran.

On the morning of May 6, 2020, Ajami’s lifeless body was found in McGovern Lake at Hermann Park in Houston, Texas.

The local American news network, ABC Texas reported that the body of a “well-dressed man” was found and reported by locals at 1am on May 6.

Ajami's body was removed from the water at 10:30am. Preliminary police investigations showed there were no indications that his death was caused by trauma or drowning. Ali Akbar Ajmi Fard's body was transferred to Iran and he was buried in his native village of Sabzevar on May 21, 2020. He was 37 years old at the time of his death.