“Most of God’s decrees that have been implemented and are currently being implemented, have been implemented in the last three years,” Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency said, citing a speech by Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, head of Iran’s judiciary system, who was referring to the amputation of suspected thieves.
The amputation of hands is a prescribed punishment for thieves in Sharia law.
“If the theft is proven under the conditions mentioned in Islam, the fingers must be cut off in the first step,” Mohseni-Ejei said.
Article 198 of the Islamic republic’s penal code has a number of conditions for amputation sentences. Among the main conditions is that the individual being punished is sane, not coerced, and had not committed the crime at a time of famine.
Iran has been controlled by a strict Islamic theocracy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Mohseni-Ejei stated that they are under significant international and domestic pressure to carry out amputation sentences.
In late October, two Kurdish citizens convicted of theft in Iran had their fingers amputated at Urmia’s central prison.
Iran is also among the world’s top executioners.
In Iran, many people are executed on drug-related offenses, which Amnesty International in June called a “deadly war on the poor” that targets disadvantaged and marginalized communities.
Executions also frequently follow convictions that are based on confessions condemned by rights groups as often obtained under duress.
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