![\"20120124-ampu-shiraz-4-200\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/08\/20120124-ampu-shiraz-4-200.jpg\" "\\"20120124-ampu-shiraz-4-200\\"")
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\u00a0Amnesty International has condemned the amputation of fingers of two young Iranian prisoners in the city of Mashhad in on Sunday 28 June.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese brutal punishments flagrantly violate international law and there is no place for them in the criminal justice system. The punishment of amputation is torture, a crime under international law,\u201d Amnesty International said in a statement on Wednesday, 1 July.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, Iran\u2019s Penal Code continues to prescribe corporal punishments, such as amputation, flogging and blinding, which violate the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. Under Article 278 of Iran\u2019s Penal Code, the punishment for first-time theft is \u2018amputation of the full length of four fingers of the right hand of the thief in such a manner that the thumb and palm of the hand remain.\u2019 Theft for the second time is punishable by \u2018amputation of the left foot in such a manner that half of the sole and part of the place of anointing [during religious ablution] remain.\u2019 Third and fourth time offenders are punished with life imprisonment and the death penalty, respectively. \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cIranian authorities have on numerous occasions defended amputation, including in public, as the best punishment for deterring theft and regretted that they cannot practice it as widely as they would like to because of international condemnation. A month ago, Ayatollah Naeem Abadi, the representative of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader in southern Hormozgan Province, bemoaned, during a speech in Mashhad, that amputation sentences are not firmly implemented \u2018when security can be restored in society by cutting off a few fingers.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cDismissing the concerns of the UN Human Rights Council about the practice, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran\u2019s Human Rights Council, denied, in October 2010, that corporal punishments such as amputation, flogging and stoning amount to torture and claimed that they are \u201cculturally justified\u201d. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFar from providing any semblance of justice and order, the authorities\u2019 arguments in defence of amputation expose the outrageous inhumanity of a criminal justice system that is bent on enforcing cruelty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amnesty International has condemned the amputation of fingers of two young Iranian prisoners in the city of Mashhad in on Sunday 28 June. “These brutal punishments flagrantly violate international law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-18638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-human-rights","8":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n