Hadi Rostami Appeals to Human Rights Organizations
Following threats of imminent hand amputation of three prisoners in Urmia Central Prison, Hadi Rostami, one of the sentenced inmates, has issued an open letter from inside prison, calling on human rights organizations to take urgent action to prevent the execution of what he calls an inhumane punishment.
According to reports, on March 13, 2025, prison officials summoned three prisoners — Hadi Rostami, Mehdi Shahivand, and Mehdi Sharafian — to the Office of Sentence Enforcement and informed them that if they fail to obtain the plaintiffs’ consent, their sentence of hand amputation would be carried out within a month.
Hadi Rostami, a prisoner from Ilam Province who has been incarcerated since 2017 on charges of “hudud theft,” has denied the allegations in his letter and stated that he was subjected to severe torture during interrogations at the Urmia Police Intelligence Department. Under duress, he says, he was forced to sign blank sheets of paper which were later used as coerced confessions. “My voice was never heard,” he writes, “though I repeatedly declared my innocence.”
Rostami also pointed to his inability to pay the enormous amounts demanded for plaintiff consent: “How am I supposed to secure the satisfaction of individuals I’ve never harmed? They are asking for billions of tomans in compensation, while my family and I live below the poverty line.”
He concludes by calling on the United Nations, international human rights bodies, and the global community to take urgent steps to halt what he describes as a cruel and inhumane sentence.
Previously, in November, 2024, two other prisoners — Mehrdad and Shahab Teymoori — had their fingers amputated in the same prison, following a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court of Iran. That sentence, carried out under the supervision of Urmia’s Prosecutor Hossein Majidi and the prison warden Khanzaadi, was executed despite international outcry.
The punishment of amputation, categorized under Islamic “hudud” laws, has repeatedly been condemned by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the UN Human Rights Council as a form of torture and a violation of international law.
