"We take pride in advocating for our clients and striving for justice on behalf of victims human rights violations around the world."
Ali Herischi
Authoritarian regimes have long used torture, kidnapping, extrajudicial killing, and state-sponsored terrorism as instruments of political control, targeting journalists, dissidents, activists, and their families both within their borders and abroad. These are not abstract human rights violations. They are crimes with names, faces, and families who deserve accountability.
At Herischi Law, we pursue that accountability through the courts of the United States. The FSIA terrorism exception, codified in 28 U.S.C. § 1605A, provides a powerful and uniquely American legal remedy: it strips state sponsors of terrorism of sovereign immunity when they commit or sponsor acts of torture, hostage-taking, extrajudicial killing, or aircraft sabotage against U.S. nationals and their families. We have built our practice around this framework, not merely as a litigation tool, but as a mechanism for human rights accountability at the highest level.
Our cases do not begin with legal theories. They begin with people, a journalist imprisoned and tortured for writing the truth, a father killed by a missile strike, a family shattered by a regime that viewed them as threats to be eliminated. Understanding who our clients are, their courage, their stature, and what their persecution represents, is essential to understanding the significance of the judgments we have secured.
Our Cases
Mahmoudzadeh v. Iran — $166,000,000
Omer Mahmoudzadeh was a U.S. citizen killed in Iran's ballistic missile and drone attack on a Kurdish refugee camp in northern Iraq. His case is the only known instance of a direct Iranian strike killing an American citizen on foreign soil. Representing his family, including his mother Shiwa Nahadi and sister Tara Mahmoudzadeh, we secured what is believed to be one of the largest FSIA judgments ever awarded to the family of a single victim of Iranian state terrorism, approximately $166 million in total damages. This case stands as a landmark in the FSIA terrorism exception framework and in the broader accountability of Iran for its military aggression against civilians.
Oveissi v. Iran — $37,500,000
General Gholam-Ali Oveissi was one of Iran's most senior military commanders before the 1979 revolution. After the revolution, he became one of the regime's most wanted targets. In 1984, Iranian agents directed Islamic Jihad to assassinate him on the streets of Paris. We represented his family in obtaining a $37.5 million judgment, a case that speaks to Iran's decades-long policy of reaching beyond its borders to silence and eliminate opponents, regardless of their location or international standing.
Kar et al. v. Iran — $34,000,000+
Siamak Pourzand was one of Iran's most celebrated cultural journalists, a writer, critic, and intellectual whose decades of work made him a towering figure in Iranian public life. After his forced disappearance and years of torture in Iranian detention, he died in 2011 under circumstances that bear all the hallmarks of state-induced death. His wife, Mehrangiz Kar, is herself one of Iran's most prominent human rights lawyers, twice imprisoned and ultimately forced into exile in the United States. We represented their family and secured a judgment of more than $34 million, a recognition by a U.S. federal court of the gravity of what Iran did to two of its most distinguished citizens.
Lakestani v. Iran — $14,000,000+
Akbar Lakestani traveled to Iran to visit his ailing mother. He was arrested by Iranian authorities, subjected to prolonged torture, and released only after sustaining permanent and catastrophic injuries, including the amputation of his foot and the loss of his vision. His case illustrates the regime's willingness to use torture against ordinary civilians with no political profile, simply because they fell within its reach. We secured a judgment of more than $14 million on his behalf.
Amirentezam et al. v. Iran — $19,500,000
Abbas Amirentezam served as deputy prime minister and spokesperson of Iran's first post-revolutionary government. When he was arrested in 1979 and accused of being a CIA spy, charges widely regarded as fabricated, he became Iran's longest-serving political prisoner, enduring more than two decades of imprisonment and torture before his death in 2018. His story is one of the defining injustices of the Islamic Republic. We represented his family and secured a judgment of $19.5 million, a judgment that carries particular weight given his stature as a founding figure of the very government that ultimately destroyed him.
Saharkhiz v. Iran — $5,000,000
Isa Saharkhiz is one of Iran's most respected journalists and reform advocates, a former government official turned dissident who was arrested following the 2009 Green Movement protests for daring to criticize the Supreme Leader. During his imprisonment he was subjected to torture and denied adequate medical care. We represented his son Mehdi Saharkhiz and secured a $5 million judgment, a case that reflects the systematic targeting of Iran's independent press and the human cost of speaking truth to power.
Alinejad v. Iran — $3,325,000
Masih Alinejad is one of the world's most prominent Iranian dissident voices, a journalist, activist, and founder of the Women, Life, Freedom movement whose campaigns against forced veiling have made her a global symbol of resistance. Iran responded not by engaging with her advocacy but by kidnapping and torturing her brother inside Iran in an attempt to intimidate and silence her. A U.S. federal court awarded $3.325 million in damages, affirming that Iran's use of family members as hostages to silence dissidents abroad is a violation of U.S. law and an act of state terrorism.
Doe et al. v. Iran — Flight PS752
On January 8, 2020, hours after Iran launched missiles at U.S. military bases in Iraq, the Iranian military shot down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752 shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. We represent families of victims of that attack. The case is pending judgment before a U.S. federal court, a case that sits at the intersection of state terrorism, military aggression, and the catastrophic consequences of deliberate state action.
Our Approach
Every judgment we obtain does more than compensate our clients. It creates a judicial record, a finding of fact by a United States federal court, that a foreign state tortured, killed, or terrorized a specific human being. That record matters beyond the courtroom. It matters for history, for accountability, and for the families who spent years being told that what happened to them was invisible to the law.
We are committed to ensuring it is not.
If you or your family have been subjected to torture, wrongful death, hostage-taking, or terrorism at the hands of a foreign state, contact us to discuss your legal options.
