Featured Image Credit: ISNA
Topics: Iran, United Nations, Crime
Daisy Phillipson
The UN has condemned Iran for installing an inhumane 'finger guillotine' in a prison in order to use it on convicted burglars.
A series of grisly images shared on social media show the torture device, which uses a rotating blade similar to a meat slicer in order to chop off offenders' digits.
The organisation's human rights office released a report yesterday (June 22), criticising alleged plans to use the tool on eight men who were arrested for burglary and charged with having 'four fingers on their right hands completely cut off so that only the palms of their hands and their thumbs are left'.
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According to the UN, the device was installed at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison where it is believed the men will be transferred for their gruesome punishment.
Local reports state that the finger-cutting guillotine was already used on another inmate on 31 May.
UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said: “We are deeply concerned by the likely imminent amputation of the fingers of eight men convicted of burglary in Iran and urge the Iranian authorities to call off the planned amputations."
She added: “We also call on Iran to urgently revise its criminal penalties to do away with any form of corporal punishment, including amputations, flogging and stoning, in line with its obligations under international human rights law and consistent with recommendations of UN human rights mechanisms."
The eight individuals who are due to endure the punishment have been identified as Hadi Rostami, Mehdi Sharafian, Mehdi Shahivand, Amir Shirmard, Morteza Jalili, Ebrahim Rafiei, Yaghoub Fazeli Koushki.
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Seven are currently being held at the Greater Tehran Central Prison, while it is currently unclear where Rostami is located as he was transferred from the prison on 12 June.
Iran's Islamic regime has faced criticism in the past from the UN for carrying out torture and cruel punishments, with Shamdasani pointing to the fact that the country is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In a separate statement, she said: "Iranian civil society organisations report that at least 237 people, mostly from poorer segments of society, have been sentenced to amputations in Iran between 1 January 2000 and 24 September 2020, and that sentences have been carried out in at least 129 cases.
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“Iran is a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which under Article 7 prohibits torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
“As the UN Human Rights Committee, which oversees implementation of the Covenant, has clearly stated, the prohibition of torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment encompasses forms of corporal punishment.”
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