It’s 2024, but medieval punishments such as amputation for theft continue to live on in Iran. A human rights organization advocating for Iranians learned that authorities have sentenced two suspects to finger amputation after they were accused of theft.
Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, has described amputation of two people in #Iran as “judicially-sanctioned torture and, therefore, a crime under international law.”https://t.co/gYfZ6KhbDp #truth
— IranWire (@IranWireEnglish) January 9, 2024
The human rights network HRANA reported that judicial authorities in the Iranian province of Qom amputated the fingers of two individuals convicted of theft.
“Regrettably, three others currently face the same inhumane punishment for similar charges,” the US-based human rights group said on January 9th.
The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, which specializes in Iranian human rights research, reported that Iranian authorities have amputated the fingers of more than 130 individuals over the past 23 years.
UN calls on #Iran to stop finger amputations https://t.co/s3OOA72vMM
— Farideh Karimi (@KarimiFarideh) June 23, 2022
Diana Eltahawy, who serves as Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, described amputation in Iran as a “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,” Eltahawy said in a statement last year.
Amnesty International also said that victims of judicial amputations overwhelmingly come from impoverished backgrounds and lack legal representation of their choosing.
Prisoner in NW #Iran sentenced to amputation of four fingers for theft -
Before this, 3 other prisoners in Urmia were sentenced to finger amputations.
Iran continues to hand down brutal punishments to petty thieves while the real thieves rule the country.https://t.co/s8OdqSXnhd— Iran News Wire (@IranNW) October 4, 2020
“With impunity rife in Iran, more and more people will be subjected to this unspeakably cruel punishment unless the international community takes action,” Eltahawy also warned.
The Islamic Penal Code of Iran provides for several corporal punishments amounting to torture, such as flogging, blinding, stoning, crucifixion, and amputation.
The Code also states that 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.” A guillotine is used to amputate the fingers of the accused.
