Twenty-three prisoners are languishing in prison in Tehran awaiting hand amputation. They are being held in the Greater Tehran Central Prison, also known as Fashafoyeh.
The hand of one of the prisoners is to be amputated in the coming days.
The prisoner has been identified as Alireza Khan Baluchi. Reports indicate that his case has been sent to the Sentence Implementation Department.
Baluchi was convicted of theft seven years ago. His hand is to be amputated despite the fact that he has paid back the stolen money.
Investigations show that prisoners are sentenced to amputation on charges of petty crimes. Most of them have stolen item worth amount 5-10 million toman (around $300-$600 US).
Iranians are sentenced to amputation for petty thievery while state corruption has been institutionalized in the regime.
The Iranian regime’s Attorney-General recently criticized the “low numbers” of hand amputation punishments in Iran as a result of human rights condemnations and called it “unfortunate”.
In comments carried by the state-affiliated Fars News Agency, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, said that the hands of thieves had to be amputated but that “unfortunately, so as not be condemned on human rights issues in the United Nations, we have abandoned some of the divine laws.”
“One of the mistakes that we make is that we are afraid of human rights (propaganda) and that they say that you treat thieves violently,” he added in a meeting with police commanders on January 16, 2019.
In a shocking statement before the United Nations Human Rights Council in October 2010, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the Iranian regime’s Human Rights Council, denied that punishments such as amputation amount to torture, claiming they are “culturally and religiously justified”.
Source » ncr-iran