According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, seven men were scheduled to be transferred to Evin Prison from the Greater Tehran Penitentiary where their amputation sentences were to be carried out. The transfer was temporarily delayed due to resistance by some of the prisoners.

The identities of the seven men who have been sentenced to have their four fingers amputated for theft has been established as: Hadi Rostami, Mehdi Shahivand, Mehdi Sharafian, Amir Shirmard, Morteza Jalili, Yaghoub Fazeli-Koushki and Ebrahim Rafiei.

Human rights defender, Arash Sadeghi who first reported news of the scheduled amputations on Twitter, told Iran Human Rights: “It’s possible that their sentences will be carried out tomorrow.”

He also reported the amputation of another prisoner’s hand in Evin Prison last week. The Kermanshah native had also received the punishment for theft.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man’s fingers were amputated in Qom Central Prison on 17 July 2023. His identity has been established as 35-year-old Yousef T (surname withheld by IHRNGO) who was sentenced to have four fingers amputated for the “theft of 5 sheep.”

According to the informed source, another man’s fingers were also amputated at the prison in Shahrivar (23 August-22 September 2022).

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Yousef was 34 when he was arrested for allegations of stealing five sheep from a farm that belonged to a member of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Yousef was a builder and contracted to build a room on the farm. He denied the theft and insisted he was innocent throughout the 13 months he was behind bars.”

According to the informed source, another man’s fingers were also amputated at the prison in Shahrivar (23 August-22 September 2022).

It should be noted that the abovementioned individuals are those sentenced to amputation in just one of Iran’s prisons. Due to the Iranian judiciary’s lack of transparency, the exact number of those awaiting amputation in Iranian prisons is unknown but it is estimated that tens of prisoners are currently at risk of the inhumane punishment.