Iran’s Supreme Court has sentenced two brothers to have their fingers amputated for stealing.
The Branch 24 of the Supreme Court has upheld the sentence against the men after a failed appeal.
According to the verdict, Mehrdad and Shahab Teimouri were sentenced to “have four fingers on their right hands completely cut off so that only the palm of their hands and their thumbs are left.
Mehrdad 30 and Shahab 35, who have currently been held in Urmia Prison were arrested on December 6, 2018, for theft in Karaj along with another man, Iraj Khatibi. They were tried in a juvenile court on July 24, 2019 and sentenced to have their fingers amputated.
Khatibi’s conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court and he was sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
In a part of his defense Mehrdad Teimouri has said: “I accept the theft, but not as it was written against me. They accused me of 11 counts of theft. Because I owe three people for previous cases of theft, I was forced to steal to pay them.”
With these two recent sentences being upheld, at least seven people in Urmia Prison have been handed the punishment in the past days.
In September the hand amputation sentence against four men, which had been upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court was referred to the Centre for the Implementation of Sentences.
The four men, Hadi Rostami (33), Mehdi Sharafian (37), Mehdi Shahivand (42) and Kasra Karami (40), is currently being held in Urmia prison in West Azerbaijan province.
Another man, Arash Ali Akbari was recently sentenced to have his hand amputated. The sentence against the 32-year-old father has been upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court and referred to the Centre for the Implementation of Sentences of Urmia in West Azerbaijan province.
