Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Three prisoners are at imminent risk of having their four fingers amputated after the judicial authorities in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, announced that a guillotine would be transferred to the city’s central prison in the coming days.

On 14 April, prisoners Hadi Rostami, Mehdi Shahivand, and Mehdi Sharafian were summoned to the Enforcement of Judgements Office of Orumiyeh Central Prison, where Orumiyeh’s Deputy Prosecutor, Saeid Nouri, informed them that the final one-month deadline for obtaining the consent of their accusers had expired and that preparations were underway for the amputations to be executed in the coming days.

Nouri made the announcement in the presence of the prison director and the head of sentence enforcement, confirming the judiciary’s intention to proceed with the amputation.

On 13 March, the three prisoners were summoned to the same office and were informed of a written notice from Nouri stating that if they failed to obtain the plaintiffs’ consent within 30 days, the sentence of amputation would be executed.

Earlier, following the Kurdistan Human Rights Network’s (KHRN) report on the imposition of a final deadline on these three prisoners, international bodies including the UN Special Rapporteur, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights issued statements calling for an immediate halt to this “cruel and inhuman” punishment.

In a recent open letter, Rostami appealed for help from the international community, insisting he had been wrongfully convicted.

“I, Hadi Rostami, an inmate from Ilam, have been incarcerated in Orumiyeh Central Prison since 2017 on charges of ‘theft’ and sentenced to the amputation of four fingers on my right hand—despite my innocence. I have repeatedly stated that I have no knowledge of the 22 cases of theft listed in my file. However, in the detention centre of the Orumiyeh’s Criminal Investigation Department, I was subjected to severe torture and forced to sign blank papers. Even then, I continued to assert my innocence, but my voice was ignored. Now, after eight years, the Orumiyeh Prosecutor’s Office has informed me and my co-defendants, Mehdi Shahivand and Mehdi Sharafian, that if we fail to secure the plaintiffs’ consent within 30 days, our hands will be amputated. How can I obtain the consent of those I have never harmed? A consent that requires billions of tomans in compensation—an amount that neither I nor my family, who live below the poverty line, can afford. Where am I supposed to get such a sum? And now, they want to cut off my hand for a crime I did not commit.”

Previous Warnings and Executions of Amputation Sentences

On 29 October 2024, following the amputation of four fingers from the right hands of two Kurdish brothers, Shahab and Mehrdad Teymouri, in Orumiyeh Central Prison, Rostami, Shahivand, and Sharafian issued an open letter warning of the likelihood of the same sentence being carried out against them.

Rostami, Shahivand and Sharafian, from the cities of Ilam and Khorramabad, were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department in Orumiyeh in 2015.

All three were tried in a joint case and on 19 November 2019, the Juvenile and Youth Criminal Court One sentenced them to “amputation of four fingers of the right hand from the base, ensuring that the thumb and palm remain intact”. They were also ordered to return the stolen property.

On 10 May 2020, Branch 13 of the Supreme Court, presided over by Judge Ali Shoushtari, upheld the verdict.

Currently, at least five prisoners accused of “theft” are being held in Orumiyeh Central Prison with the sentence of “amputation of four fingers of the hand.” These prisoners are Hadi Rostami, 34 years old; Mehdi Sharifian, 38 years old; Mehdi Shahivand, 43 years old; Kasra Karami, 41 years old; and Morteza Esmaeilian, 44 years old.