Javad Alikordi

Age: 48
Activism/rights: Human rights lawyer
Status: Mashhad (Vakil Abad) Central Prison
Judicial status: 10 years’ imprisonment
Violations: Arbitrary arrest and detention; denial of access to a lawyer; lack of a fair trial and due process; prolonged solitary confinement; unlawful summons; familial punishment; judicial harassment

Javad Alikordi is a lawyer, university lecturer and former member of the Sabzevar City Council who provided pro bono legal representation to a number of political prisoners and protesters During the imprisonment of his brother, Khosrow Alikordi, who was also a lawyer, he represented political activist Fatemeh Sepehri and the justice-seeking family of Abolfazl Adinehzadeh, a teenager killed during the 2022 protests. Javad was first arrested on 14 August 2004, while serving as a member of the Sabzevar City Council, and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and 148 lashes on charges of “disturbing public opinion” and “insulting national and provincial officials”. He was transferred to Sabzevar Central Prison. The sentence was later converted into a fine and he was released on bail. During the nationwide protests following the 2009 presidential election, Alikordi was injured in the eye and lip by pellet gunfire from security forces, in such a way that several pellets remain lodged in his mouth to this day. On 22 April 2020, he was rearrested at his work and  held for more than 30 days in solitary confinement at the Ministry of Intelligence's detention centre for interrogations. The Mashhad Revolutionary Court sentenced him to six years and six months’ imprisonment on the charge of “forming and running a Telegram group named (Hope, Awareness and Freedom) with the aim of overthrowing the government”, eight months’ imprisonment for “acting against the system”, and one year and five months’ imprisonment for “insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic”. He was also sentenced to two-year bans on professional activity and teaching in educational and university settings, leaving the country, and membership in political and social parties. Following an appeal at Branch 37 of the Razavi Khorasan Court of Appeal, his sentence was reduced to two years’ imprisonment, while the supplementary punishments were upheld. Javad was arrested on 15 July 2021 and transferred to Mashhad (Vakil Abad) Central Prison to serve his sentence. He was released on bail in March 2022.

The suspension of the enforcement of Javad's sentence was revoked on 1 March 2025 by Branch 37 of the Razavi Khorasan Court of Appeal.  He was arrested at his law office  in Mashhad and transferred to  Mashhad (Vakil Abad) Central Prison to serve the remaining 16 months of his sentence. On 11 August 2025, after serving more than five months, he was released on bail with an electronic tag. Javad was barred from teaching at university and his wife, Somayeh Zandi, has been prevented by order of the Ministry of Intelligence from obtaining a law licence. Her complaint to the High Disciplinary Court for Judges has so far yielded no result. Following the suspicious death of his brother, Khosrow Alikordi, on 6 December 2025, Javad Alikordi publicly stated that security forces had confiscated the CCTV footage from Khosrow’s office and called for the footage to be made public, leading to his summons and interrogation.

Javad was arrested on 12 December 2025 after protesting the violent arrest of a number of civil society activists attending the memorial ceremony marking the seventh day after his brother’s death. In an Instagram live broadcast, he also warned that he would disclose information concerning the circumstances surrounding his brother's death. On 20 April 2026, the lawyer was tried before the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad without access to legal counsel and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.