amputation of a thief’s hand last week and sentenced another man to amputation after he was convicted of stealing chocolates from a candy shop.
The regime has been resorting to amputations with great fervor in recent months in an apparent effort to stem a rash of thievery.
Amputation is the prescribed punishment for unrepentant thieves who are not deterred from theft after previous convictions and incarcerations.
Since April, the media have reported a total of eight convicted thieves have suffered amputation, including last week’s, which took place in Mashhad. The man there had been convicted of two robberies, the local prosecutor, Mohammad Zoghi, said.
He said, “We asked the judges to focus on amputations because we are responsible for protecting life and property.… There will be other cases of amputation in the future.”
The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) said the hand was severed in front of other prisoners, presumably to maximize the deterrent effect.
The chocolate thief was convicted in Tehran. The Fars news agency said the 21-year-old man was arrested in May when found in possession of the equivalent of $900 in cash, three pairs of gloves, assorted chocolates and cocoa. It said he confessed to robbing a candy store. It did not say what previous thefts were on his record to warrant the amputation sentence.
The last previously reported amputation was in July when five convicted thieves underwent amputation in the western province of Hamadan. That was a rare instance of mass amputation. Prosecutor Ahmad Biglari said, “When a hand is used to rob and cause harm to people, it must be shortened.”
He said amputation is not automatic for repeat thieves, as a total of 14 criteria must be met before an amputation is ordered.
The punishment for repeated convictions of theft without a threatening weapon is to have four fingers of the right hand amputated, under the regime’s reading of traditional Islamic law. Five men in Zahedan in 2008 had both the right hand and left foot amputated because they were convicted of armed robbery, not ordinary theft.
Amputations are not common. But it isn’t certain that all amputations are announced at the time. For example, in June, ISNA reported that the outgoing Ahvaz prosecutor said there had been six cases of amputation of thieves in the preceding six years in the city. Only one of those had previously been noted in the media.
According to published reports collected by the Iran Times, last week’s amputation was the 42nd since early 1997, meaning an average of three per year.