The old man looked up." Mustafa was my brother" he said.
"I wanted to see him again, and now you tell me he is dead.
我的问题点在于
为什么不能够说 he was dead 呢？
毕竟这个人已经死亡了，是发生在过去的事情，所以用过去式比较合理吧？
感谢您的回复。

dead 是状态不是动作，他现在的确是死了的状态