Fingers of two prisoners who were sentenced to amputation for theft were cut off in Iran’s religious city of Qom, in contravention of international law.

Ali Mozaffari, the Chief Justice of Qom Province, said on Monday that three more men face the risk of the same punishment.

In June 2022, a prisoner in Tehran's Evin prison underwent the amputation of four fingers using a guillotine, which was allegedly installed in the infirmary a month prior to facilitate such sentences.

At the time, Amnesty International warned that the Iranian authorities were preparing to amputate the fingers of eight men and according to the Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre, since January 2000, the Iranian authorities have amputated the fingers of at least 131 people in total.

In spite of it contravening Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a state party, Iranian law states that for certain types of theft, those convicted shall “have four fingers on their right hands completely cut off so that only the palm of their hands and their thumbs are left”.

Amnesty International claims that the Iranian authorities have consistently defended amputation as the best way to deter theft, and have expressed regret that it cannot be practiced in public because of international condemnation.

Despite calls from international bodies such as the United Nations and rights groups urging the cessation of amputation sentences and their execution in Iran, the issuance and execution of such punishments persist in the Islamic Republic, including whipping, finger amputation, stoning, and amputation of hands and feet.

The amputations come amidst Iran's surge in executions, which have gained pace since the Women, Life, Freedom uprising began in September 2022.