Iranian Authorities Amputate Fingers of Two Theft Convicts

Since the beginning of the year, judicial authorities in Iran’s Qom province have amputated the fingers of two individuals convicted of theft, the human rights network HRANA reported.

“Regrettably, three others currently face the same inhumane punishment for similar charges,” the US-based group said on January 9.

According to the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, which specializes in Iranian human rights research, authorities in Iran have amputated the fingers of more than 130 men over the past 23 years.

Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, has described amputation as “judicially-sanctioned torture and, therefore, a crime under international law.”

“These amputations are particularly harrowing displays of the Iranian authorities’ contempt for human rights and dignity,” she said in a statement last year.

The country’s Islamic Penal Code provides for various corporal punishments amounting to torture, including amputation, flogging, blinding, crucifixion and stoning.

For certain types of theft, those convicted shall “have four fingers on their right hands completely cut off so that only the palm of their hands and their thumbs are left.”

The authorities use a guillotine machine to amputate the fingers. 

According to Amnesty International, the victims of judicial amputations are overwhelmingly from impoverished backgrounds and lack legal representation of their choosing. 

“With impunity rife in Iran, more and more people will be subjected to this unspeakably cruel punishment unless the international community takes action,” Eltahawy warned.