Human rights defender and lawyer Javad Alikordi sentenced to 18 years of prison and permanently disbarred

On 21 June 2026, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad, in Iran's Khorasan-e Razavi province, sentenced human right defenders Javad Alikordi to a total of 18 years’ imprisonment, two years of internal exile, two-year travel ban and ordered his permanent disbarment. The sentence appears to be a result of his human rights work and his public efforts to seek truth and accountability following the suspicious death of his brother, human rights lawyer Khosrow Alikordi.

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Javad Alikordi is an Iranian human rights defender, lawyer, university lecturer, and a former member of the Sabzevar City Council in Mashhad, Khorasan province. He is widely known for providing pro bono legal representation to political prisoners and families seeking justice for relatives killed as a result of state violence.

On 21 June 2026, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad sentenced Javad Alikordi, who is currently detained in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, to a total of 18 years' imprisonment. The court sentenced the human rights defender to 5 years in prison on the ground of “assembly and collusion against national security” and a further 13 years for “propaganda activity against state,” resulting in the cumulative sentence of 18 years’ imprisonment.

Human right defender Javad Alikordi was convicted under Article 4, Law on Intensifying the Punishment for Espionage, of the Islamic Penal Code. The Iranian parliament introduced, on 23 June 2025, a total of nine amendments to intensify punishments for espionage charges. Article 4, thus, provides that any propaganda activities deemed hostile or undermining of Iran’s national security may be punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment (amendment 4), or by death (amendment 1). If the amendment remains in force, human rights defenders’ work will risk facing severe challenges. Their actions could be further criminalised, arbitrary detention will be facilitated and judicial discretion will critically be impaired.

The Court imposed further punishments including permanent disbarment from the legal profession, a two-year ban, and two years of exile in between Saravan and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces.

On 10 December 2025, the human right defenders Javad Alikordi was summoned and interrogated following the speech he made at the funeral of his late brother and human rights defender, Khosrow Alikordi On 10 June 2026, after six months of arbitrary detention, the trial took place before Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad.

The sentencing occurred after Javad Alikordi has been subjected to months of judicial harassment, which started after he publicly questioned the official explanation of his brother’s death, human rights lawyer Khosrow Alikordi.

On 6 December 2025, Khosrow Alikordi was found dead in his office. Although no private investigation was ever conducted, Khosrow Alikordi had previously been threatened and imprisoned as a result of his human rights work. Therefore, while authorities stated that he died of a heart attack, family members raised concerns regarding the actual circumstances surrounding his death and demanded an independent investigation. In following his brother’s death, Javad Alikordi publicly stated that security forces had seized surveillance footage from Khosrow Alikordi’s office and requested the retrieval of the recording. As a result, he was summoned and questioned by the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad.

On 12 December 2025, during a memorial ceremony for Khosrow Alikordi held under heavy security presence, Javad Alikordi spoke alongside several civil society figures. The ceremony was disrupted by security forces, and several human rights defenders were arrested during and after the ceremony. Human right defenders Javad Alikordi subsequently denounced on his social media the arrests and the treatment of mourners, and continued to call for transparency regarding his brother’s death.

The June 2025 amendments, Law on Intensifying the Punishment for Espionage raises deep concerns. While Amendment 1 violates the individuals’ right to life, Amendment 4 restricts the work of human rights defenders, journalists, and those documenting violations of human rights and freedom of assembly and association, and exposes them to higher risk of prosecution.

Human rights defenders Javad Alikordi has faced repeated reprisals over the course of his professional career. He has previously been arrested, imprisoned, subjected to judicial harassment, banned from teaching, and restricted in the exercise of his legal profession. His family reportedly faced pressure as well.

Front Line Defenders believes that the conviction and sentencing of Javad Alikordi are directly linked to his legitimate and peaceful human rights activities, including his work as a lawyer representing political prisoners and families seeking justice, as well as his calls for an independent investigation into the death of his brother.

Front Line Defenders is concerned by the ongoing targeting of human rights lawyers in Iran and the use of judicial measures to silence those seeking truth, accountability and justice.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Iran to:

1. Quash the convictions and sentences imposed on Javad Alikordi and immediately release him from detention;
2. End all forms of judicial harassment against Javad Alikordi and ensure that he can carry out his legitimate human rights activities without restrictions or fear of reprisals;
3. Restore his right to practise law and revoke all supplementary punishments imposed against him;
4. Conduct an independent, impartial and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the human rights defenderKhosrow Alikordi and ensure that the findings are made public;
5. G uarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Iran are able to carry out their legitimate work without fear of retaliation and free of all restrictions.