Age: 46
Activism/rights: Human rights lawyer
Status: Deceased under suspicious circumstances
Judicial status: Open judicial case at the time of death
Violations: Arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of a fair trial and due process; denial of access to a lawyer; deprivation of employment and education; judicial harassment
Age: 46
Activism/rights: Human rights lawyer
Status: Deceased under suspicious circumstances
Judicial status: Open judicial case at the time of death
Violations: Arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of a fair trial and due process; denial of access to a lawyer; deprivation of employment and education; judicial harassment
Khosrow Alikordi was a human rights lawyer who represented a number of protesters arrested in relation to the post-election protests in 2009, becoming a regular target of summons and interrogations by the Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). In 2010, he was admitted to study for a master’s degree in public law at Allameh Tabataba’i University; however, at the request of the MOIS, the university refused to register him. Despite his complaint to the Administrative Justice Court and the issuance of a final ruling ordering the lifting of the ban on his studies, Sadr al-Din Shariati, then president of Allameh Tabataba’i University, refused to implement the ruling, and he was barred fro, studying at that university. He later continued his studies at the Islamic Azad University.
Following the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022, he represented a number of political prisoners and civil activists, including Hassan Bagherinia, Fatemeh Sepehri and justice-seeking families such as the family of Abolfazl Adinehzadeh, a teenager killed during the 2022 protests. He repeatedly criticised the Islamic Republic on social media for repression and violations of civil and political freedoms, and reported on the poor conditions of political prisoners.
On 28 November 2023, Branch One of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court, presided over by Hadi Mansouri, sentenced Khosrow to one year’s imprisonment on the charge of “propaganda activity against the system”, two years of exile to the city of Nehbandan, two years’ bans on leaving the country and practising law, and a ban on online activities. His interviews with Farsi-language diaspora media and his comments on social media were used as examples of the charges.
This ruling was upheld by the Khorasan Razavi Court of Appeal, and on 16 February 2024, Khosrow surrendered to Mashhad (Vakil Abad) Central Prison to serve his one-year prison sentence.
After serving eight months in prison, in October 2024 he was released on temporary licence, which allowed him to serve the remainder of his sentence outside prison. However, on 24 December 2024, while 45 days of his sentence remained, he was summoned by the prison supervising judge, Tabataba’i, to Mashhad Central Prison and detained without any explanation.
Khosrow was released from prison after serving his sentence on 30 January 2025. He stated that despite having completed five years of doctoral studies in public law, he had been barred from continuing his studies due to the case.
On the morning of 6 December 2025, Khosrow's lifeless body was found in his office. Authorities announced his cause of death as a heart attack. However, in light of information raised by sources close to the Alikordi family in conversations with IHRNGO, there are serious suspicions that the case involves a killing with the involvement of state institutions. Accordingly, IHRNGO called for the establishment of an independent international fact-finding inquiry to investigate the circumstances of Khosrow Alikordi’s death.