PARIS — Eight
Iranian men convicted of theft
are in imminent risk of having their fingers cut off, campaign groups warned on
Friday, urging global action to halt the “inhuman” punishment.
اضافة اعلان
All eight men are being held in the Greater Tehran
prison waiting for their fingers on one hand to be amputated, the Abdorrahman
Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran (ABC) and Amnesty International said
in separate statements.
Three of them had been transferred from Orumiyeh
prison in northwestern Iran in May specifically for the amputation, they said.
According to
Amnesty International, the authorities have informed the men that they will be
transferred to another prison in the coming days for the sentence to be
implemented with a guillotine machine.
All eight were convicted of robbery and sentenced to
amputation of their fingers, with the verdict upheld by the Supreme Court,
Amnesty said.
On June 8, all eight were summoned for transfer for
the amputation which was postponed for unknown reasons.
In a joint statement with the Kurdistan Human Rights
Network and the ABC said it was concerned by “credible reports” that the device
had now been installed in a clinic in
Tehran’s Evin prison and had already been
used for at least one amputation in recent days.
“Carrying out such a cruel and inhuman punishment
violates the minimum standards of humanity and decency,” said ABC executive
director Roya Boroumand.
“The international community can and should react
urgently to stop the implementation of these amputations,” she added.
Finger amputations are permitted in the Islamic
republic under sharia law, but have been rarely carried out in recent years.
The ABC said it had collected reports on at least
356 sentences of amputation issued since the Islamic revolution in 1979, but
added the real number is believed to be much higher.
If the sentences are carried out, the men will have
four fingers of their right hand cut off so only the palm of their hands and
thumbs are left, according to Iran’s penal code.
Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s deputy
regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said that the
punishments represented an “abhorrent assault on human dignity.”
“We call on the international community to urgently
intervene to stop these sentences from being carried out.”
Amnesty cited reports by Iranian activists that a
guillotine machine was brought to the medical clinic of Evin prison last month
and on May 31, authorities amputated four fingers from a prisoner moved there
from Kermanshah province in southwestern Iran.
It said that punishments such as amputation amount
to torture and are prohibited under international law noting that Iran’s penal
code allows other corporal punishments including flogging, blinding and
stoning.
Both Amnesty and ABC said one of the convicts, named
as Hadi Rostami, had been flogged 60 times after protesting against his
sentence and had attempted suicide twice in prison.
The concern over the pending punishment comes as
rights groups raise alarm over surging numbers of executions in Iran at a time
of protests over price rises.
According to
Norway-based Iran Human Rights, at least 168
people were executed by Iran authorities in the first five months of 2022, 50
percent more than in the same period last year.
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