The UN on Wednesday (June 22) urged Iran to drop the execution of sentences for the amputation of the fingers of eight convicts and asked Tehran to abolish all forms of corporal punishment more generally.
Read alsoDeath penalty: the long road to abolition
Seven of these men are in the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary, according to a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, in Geneva.
“
We are deeply concerned about the likely imminent amputation of the fingers of eight men convicted of burglary in Iran and we urge the Iranian authorities to cancel the planned amputations
,” she said in a statement.
"
We also call on Iran to urgently review its criminal sanctions to remove all forms of corporal punishment, including amputations, flogging and stoning, in accordance with its obligations under international human rights law.
" , she continued.
Prohibited by the International Covenant
Seven of the eight men have been identified.
They are Hadi Rostami, Mehdi Sharafian, Mehdi Shahivand, Amir Shirmard, Morteza Jalili, Ebrahim Rafiei and Yaghoub Fazeli Koushki.
According to the UN, the eight were sentenced to have four fingers cut off from their right hand, and could be transferred to Evin prison in Tehran where a guillotine was recently brought.
This guillotine would have already been used on May 31 to amputate the fingers of another man.
Read alsoIran returns to revolutionary rule
According to Iranian civil society organizations, at least 237 people were sentenced to amputations between January 1, 2000 and September 24, 2020, these sentences were carried out in at least 129 cases, Ravina Shamdasani said.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party, prohibits acts of torture, which includes inhuman punishment.
100 people executed since January
According to the latest report by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, presented on Tuesday, Iran executed more than 100 people between January 1 and March 20, continuing a worrying upward trend.
The report states that 260 people were executed in 2020, and at least 310 in 2021, including at least 14 women.
Read alsoThese countries that still practice the death penalty in the world
Iran denounced a "
biased
" report.
“
Making big human rights principles into petty political instruments is appalling and shameful
,” said Mehdi Ali Abadi, Iran's deputy permanent representative at UN headquarters in Geneva.
Executions in Iran - one of the top executing countries along with China and Saudi Arabia - are usually carried out by hanging.
