Iran: Supreme Court Confirms Amputation Sentence for Prisoner

According to close sources, branch 32 of the Supreme Court has confirmed the amputation sentence for Mostafa Shahi, an individual who was convicted in June 2015 in a court in Urmia (West Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran). In 2014, Mr. Shahi was reportedly arrested in Urmia by Iranian authorities on theft charges.

"Mostafa is 41 years old and father of a young girl. The theft was a result of poverty. To this day, Mostafa insists that he didn't commit the actual theft himself, but rather it was the individual who was with him. During interrogations, Mostafa was forced to accept responsibility for the crime," a close source tells Iran Human Rights.

According to a report by the local Iranian newspaper Farhikhtegan, at least three other individuals in Iran have also been sentenced to amputation on theft charges. According to this report, the individuals are two unidentified brothers and an unidentified accomplice. One of the young men was reportedly also sentenced to three years in prison, as this was his eighth theft charge.

Amputation and flogging punishments are cruel and inhuman torture, and torture is prohibited by international human rights standards.