A Thief's Hand Cut Off by Guillotine in Mashhad

The newspaper 'Khorasan' reported, citing Gholamali Sadeghi, the prosecutor of Mashhad, that the sentence of cutting off a thief's hand with a guillotine was carried out in the central prison of Mashhad on Wednesday, January 17. The report indicates that the condemned man, a 34-year-old named 'Ali-K', was identified and arrested six years ago and confessed to 21 cases of livestock theft in four cities of Razavi Khorasan and South Khorasan provinces. Khorasan newspaper writes that the court handling his charges at that time ruled for 'amputation' and also restitution of the stolen goods, but this ruling was appealed by the defendant and was re-examined in the first branch of the Court of Appeals of Razavi Khorasan Province, which ultimately upheld the ruling in accordance with Islamic and legal principles. In September of this year, the central prison of Qom was also the scene of such punishments, where, according to judicial officials in Qom, three hand amputations were executed in that prison. Punishments such as amputation, blinding criminals, or flogging, recognized in Islamic penal law, have always faced severe criticism from international organizations and human rights activists. The International Covenant Against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which are based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, prohibit the use of inhumane punishments such as amputation. UN special rapporteurs have repeatedly accused Iran of human rights violations based on these covenants in their reports. In the latest of these reports, Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur on Iran, mentioned instances of the execution of these sentences, stating that Iran continues to use amputation and blinding as punishments.