Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has referred to as for a UN fact-finding committee to research the loss of life of Khosrow Alikordi, an lawyer identified for representing political prisoners and activists.
Alikordi, a former political prisoner and outspoken critic of the Islamic republic, was discovered lifeless in his workplace on December 5 within the northeastern metropolis of Mashhad. He was 46.
His loss of life has formally been dominated a “coronary heart assault,” with native officers ruling out “unnatural causes” for his loss of life.
But many attorneys and activists have described his loss of life as “suspicious,” with some calling it outright “homicide.” Rights teams, together with the Norway-based Iran Human Rights and the International Organization to Preserve Human Rights, have referred to as for an unbiased inquiry into Alikordi’s loss of life.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, Sotoudeh stated Alikordi was “an honorable lawyer who was below excessive authorized and safety strain for practically 20 years.”
Sotoudeh stated authorities “had carried out to him every little thing you may do to a critic” — from imprisonment to blocking him from training regulation. She added that Alikordi was aware of the threats towards him, which is why he had put in 16 cameras in his workplace. Those cameras have since been confiscated, she added.
“There are ample grounds to doubt the coroner’s report,” Sotoudeh argued. “A UN fact-finding mission has the authorized authority to press Iran for solutions.”
Alikordi’s funeral in Sabzevar happened below tight safety, attended by households of different activists searching for justice.
His loss of life has additionally prompted an outpouring of tributes from fellow attorneys.
Reza Shafakhah, an lawyer, wrote on social media that Alikordi defended his purchasers “to the very finish,” including, “Injustice solely stops when the oppressed refuse to tolerate it anymore. Alikordi had lengthy since stopped tolerating injustice; he threw warning apart and went all the way in which, even at the price of his life.”
Fellow lawyer Babak Paknia shared a screenshot of a dialog with Alikordi, noting that even after his launch from jail, he “by no means stopped combating for individuals’s rights.”
Nobel Peace Prize laureates Narges Mohammadi and Shirin Ebadi additionally paid tribute to Alikordi.
Mohammadi stated Alikordi “dreamed of peace and human rights,” including that his remaining message, repeated typically, was to not let political prisoners — particularly these in distant cities — be forgotten.
Ebadi praised Alikordi for standing alongside households of political prisoners and civil activists, calling him “the voice of forgotten and silenced prisoners whose names had been by no means talked about within the media.”
