Javad Alikurdi is a lawyer from Sabzevar, Razavi Khorasan Province, a former political prisoner and a holder of a PhD in law.

He is the brother of Khosrow Alikurdi, who died under suspicious circumstances in his office in Mashhad.

In recent years, Alikurdi has repeatedly been summoned and detained by security agencies because of his political activities and has faced judicial prosecution.

Arrest

On 12 December 2025, during a memorial ceremony in Mashhad marking the seventh day after Khosrow Alikordi’s death, which was attended by a large number of people, civil rights activists and political activists and held amid a heavy security presence, several activists were arrested, including Narges Mohammadi, Sepideh Gholian, Aliyeh Motallebzadeh, Pouran Nazemi and Hasti Amiri.

Following their arrests, Alikurdi published a video message warning state officials that he would disclose information about the circumstances surrounding his brother’s death unless those detained were released.

Security forces arrested Alikurdi in Mashhad shortly after the video was published.

He was held for a period at the Ministry of Intelligence detention facility in Mashhad, where he was denied access to a lawyer and family visits, before being transferred to Mashhad Central Prison.

Judicial Process

A hearing in Alikurdi’s case was held on 10 June 2026 at Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mashhad.

Several days later, he was informed that he had been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security” and to 13 years on charges of “propaganda activities against national security”, with the court citing Article 4 of the law on intensifying punishments for espionage.

In addition to the prison sentences, the court imposed supplementary punishments including a permanent ban on practising law, a two-year ban on leaving the country and two years of internal exile in Saravan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province.

Current Status

Alikurdi is held in Mashhad Central Prison.

Notes:

1. Khosrow Alikurdi, a lawyer and former political prisoner who had represented a number of political prisoners, detainees and the families of those killed during the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising in recent years, died under suspicious circumstances at his office in Mashhad on 5 December 2025.

State media attributed his death to a heart attack, but his family and members of the legal community described it as suspicious, citing the history of misinformation by these outlets, previous threats by security bodies related to his political cases and the removal of CCTV footage from his office.

2. Article 610 of the Islamic Penal Code: “If two or more individuals gather and conspire to commit crimes against the internal or external security of the country or to facilitate the means for committing such crimes, they shall be sentenced to two to five years’ imprisonment, unless they are considered mohareb (those who commit enmity against God).”

3. Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code: “Anyone who engages in propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or in favour of groups and organisations opposing the state, in any manner, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period of three months to one year.”

4. Following Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June 2025, the Iranian parliament passed a bill entitled “Intensifying Punishments for Espionage and Collaboration with the Zionist Regime and Hostile States against National Security and Interests”.

Immediately after the bill was approved in parliament, a group of legal experts issued an open letter protesting against it, warning: “The publication of the full text of the ‘Intensifying Punishments for Espionage’ bill, alongside reports of the arrest of hundreds of people across the country and the implementation of several executions, has raised serious concerns and points to the possibility of a major catastrophe within the country’s legal and judicial system.”

Nevertheless, after addressing the objections raised by the Guardian Council, the bill was formally approved and came into force in autumn 2025.