Khosrow Alikordi, a 46-year-old prominent lawyer for jailed protesters and a former political prisoner, was found dead under unclear circumstances, prompting some attorneys and activists to suggest possible Islamic Republic involvement.
Alikordi died of cardiac arrest on Friday night in his office in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, according to a report on Saturday by Iranian lawyers news agency (Vokala Press).
His body was transferred to the forensic institute for determination of “the main cause of cardiac arrest,” while police restricted entry to and from the office, according to media reports.
However, fellow lawyer Marzieh Mohebbi wrote on X that Alikordi died from “a blow to the head”, according to what she called "trusted contacts".
Security officers, she said, removed cameras from the area and that access to his family had become impossible.
Mohebbi said the body was discovered inside his office, adding that security forces had taken over the site.
The US-based civil-society group Tavaana relayed a similar account, quoting a witness who said blood was flowing from his mouth when he was found. Another source cited by the group said his skull appeared fractured.
Human rights activist Javad Tavaf also described blood coming from the lawyer’s mouth and nose, saying he had suffered a severe head injury.
Longstanding pressure on a prominent defender
Alikordi, originally from Sabzevar and living in Mashhad, had represented political detainee Fatemeh Sepehri, several people arrested during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests, and bereaved families including that of Abolfazl Adinezadeh, a teenager killed during protests.
“We find his death highly suspicious and do not believe he died of a heart attack," Abolfazl's sister Marziyeh said in an Instagram post about their lawyer's death.
Some colleagues said he had recently warned clients of new “case building” against him and other activists, and that the intelligence ministry “intended physical elimination.”
Lawyer Babak Paknia posted an image of a conversation with Alikordi in which he said a new case had been filed against him and that authorities “did not leave him alone until the very last moment.”
According to that exchange, Alikordi had been sentenced by the Revolutionary Court to one year in prison, a two-year ban from practicing law and two years of internal exile for joining the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, on charges of “propaganda against the state.”
He had faced previous arrests and in early 2024 received another set of sentences including prison time, exile, travel bans and a prohibition on legal practice.
Tributes evoke a pattern of pressure
Former political prisoner Hossein Ronaghi said the lawyer resisted “countless pressures and threats,” adding that many deaths labeled “natural” in recent years were in fact the result of sustained coercion.
“Recent suspicious deaths testify to the disorder governing our country,” he wrote.
Dozens of users on social media went further, directly attributing the death to the Islamic Republic and calling it a “state killing.”
The circumstances remain under official investigation, though the accounts circulating among lawyers and activists have intensified scrutiny of his death and revived warnings over the risks faced by attorneys defending political cases.
