NCRI - Ali Khomeini, mullahs' Supreme Leader's representative in the southern province of Fars on Monday regreted not being able to cut what he called "common thief's hand" to fight the high crime rate in mullahs' rule, reported the state-run news agency Fars on Monday. 

Mohi-al-din Hayeari, Shiraz Friday prayer leader and Khomeini's representative met with the Fars Province prosecutor and his deputies on Monday.

He made it clear that since the Iranian regime" is not able to cut the hand of a common thief because of human rights issues" and the pressure it "faces today for implementing the Islamic codes," the crime rate is growing.

"We have refrain from executing the strict Islamic laws to do away with the [human rights watchdogs]," added Hayeari. 

He said, "We have to stick by the Islamic codes to prove the strength of the laws in solving the problems."
International rights organizations have long condemned punishing people through amputations. Amnesty International, for example, calls it the "cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment of judicial amputation," and considers it a form of torture.

The photo is showing a 25-year-old man receiving a public flogging on August 2007, in Qazvin, 160 kilometers northwest of the capital Tehran.