Iranwire – Authorities at Urmia Prison in Iran’s West Azerbaijan Province carried out the sentence of finger amputation on two brothers convicted of alleged theft.
Branch 1 of the provincial juvenile court ordered the amputation of four fingers from the right hand of each brother, Shahab and Mehrdad Teimouri.
After the procedure, the brothers were transferred to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Urmia for medical treatment.
Originally from Sarpol-e Zahab, the brothers now reside in Malard, Karaj. They were arrested in 2019 on theft charges.
In April 2020, Branch 24 of Iran’s Supreme Court, under Judge Mohammad Karami, upheld the sentence. A similar sentence for co-defendant Ebrahim Khatibi was reduced to 20 years in prison.
According to court documents obtained by human rights monitors, Mehrdad Teimouri acknowledged involvement in theft but disputed the extent of the charges, reported the Hengaw human rights organization.
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.