| AFP | BBC | Farsi |
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TEHRAN, Jan 4 (AFP [Agance France Press]) Authorities amputate man's fingers Four fingers were cut off a man's right hand after he was found guilty of stealing, the daily Kahyan reported Thursday. Mohammad-Ali Eyvazkhani was punished in accordance with Islamic Sharia law in the Shiite holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, after he was found to be a repeat offender. On Tuesday, two other people suffered the same punishment in Tehran for trying to steal from jewelry stores. Sharia, enforced in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, calls for the execution of armed robbers. Amputation is a punishment for repeat offenders of less serious crimes. |
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BBC Monitoring Service Jan 6, 2001 Text of report in English by Iranian newspaper Tehran Times on 6 January The Persian daily Kayhan on Thursday [4 January] reported that a thief's fingers had been amputated on the orders of a judge in the city of Qom. But the sketchy report did not go into detail. Similar reports have also been recently carried by other publications without giving the necessary details related to the case. Although it is taken for granted that the honourable judge considered all aspects of the case before issuing his ruling, the present unfavourable economic situation, particularly the high inflation and unemployment, cannot be overlooked. The fact is that the worsening economic situation is imposing a heavy burden on low-income families. Furthermore, although official sources put the unemployment rate at around 15 per cent, according to experts the actual rate is much higher. What people expect is that the ruling on the amputation of a thief's fingers should be issued only after major economic problems facing the underprivileged strata have been solved. Otherwise, the amputation of a thief's fingers would only make things even uglier for his family. |
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