Iranian rights lawyer Javad Alikordi has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, HRANA reported, more than six months after his arrest in connection with a memorial for his brother, rights attorney Khosrow Alikordi, who died under suspicious circumstances.
The rights group said Branch 1 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court sentenced Alikordi to five years in prison on charges of “assembly and collusion to act against national security” and 13 years for “propaganda against national security” under Iran’s newly hardened espionage-related legislation.
Under Iran’s sentencing rules for multiple convictions, if the ruling is upheld, Alikordi would serve the longest prison term handed down in the case, which is 13 years.
Alikordi, who is being held in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, was also sentenced to two years of exile in Saravan, in the underprivileged Sistan and Baluchestan province, and a two-year ban on leaving the country.
HRANA said he was arrested by security forces at his workplace in Mashhad in December 2025, days after the death of his brother Khosrow who was a prominent lawyer who represented jailed protesters, political prisoners and bereaved families seeking justice for relatives killed during Iran’s 2022 protests.
Khosrow Alikordi was found dead in his office in Mashhad under unclear circumstances in December. Iranian authorities cited cardiac arrest, but fellow lawyers, activists and some relatives of victims he represented questioned the official account and called for an independent investigation.
Javad Alikordi, a lawyer, university lecturer and former member of the Sabzevar City Council, had also represented political prisoners and families of slain protesters.
He was arrested after protesting the detention of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi and other activists during Khosrow's memorial.
Rights groups say he has faced repeated judicial pressure over his legal and human rights work.
