Kurdish lawyer Javad Alikurdi sentenced to 18 years in prison

Hengaw – Saturday, June 20, 2026

The Iranian Judiciary has sentenced Javad Alikurdi, a Kurdish lawyer from Sabzevar and the brother of the late attorney Khosrow Alikurdi, to 18 years in prison, permanent disbarment, and additional punishments.

Information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights shows that a verdict formally delivered to Alikurdi on Saturday, June 20, 2026, sentenced him to five years in prison on charges of “assembly and collusion to act against national security” and 13 years in prison for “propaganda activity contrary to national security” under Article 4 of the Law on Intensifying the Punishment of Espionage. The court also imposed a permanent ban from practicing law, a two-year travel ban, and two years of internal exile in Saravan, in Sistan and Baluchestan Province.

A hearing on the charges against Alikurdi was held on June 10, 2026.

Iranian authorities arrested Alikurdi on the evening of December 12, 2025, after he published a video criticizing the mass arrest of mourners attending the seventh-day memorial ceremony for his brother. In the video, he challenged the government's account of his brother's suspicious death and stated that he possessed confidential documents related to the case.

Khosrow Alikurdi, a prominent lawyer who represented families seeking justice for victims of state violence, died under suspicious circumstances in his office on December 5, 2025. While government authorities attributed his death to a “heart attack,” the Alikurdi family rejected that explanation, citing evidence including unusual bleeding, and called for transparency regarding the circumstances of his death. Their demands were followed by an intensified security crackdown on family members, including the arrest of Javad Alikurdi.