Prisoner Morteza Esmaeilian, who has been convicted of theft, is at imminent risk of finger amputation in Orumiyeh, north-western Iran.

The prisoner who was sentenced to the amputation of four fingers of his right hand over “theft”, was transferred for the execution of his sentence from Orumiyeh Central Prison to an undisclosed location on 31 December.

“On 28 December, the Public Prosecutor and the Chief Justice of West Azerbaijan province summoned the prisoners charged with the amputation of their four fingers and informed them that they would be transferred to Tehran in the near future for the execution of their sentences if the plaintiffs did not withdraw their complaints”, a source told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).

According to the source, Esmaeilian was summoned to the guard office on 31 December and transferred from prison to an undisclosed location.

Esmaeilian, 41, who comes from Orumiyeh, was arrested about 10 years ago and sentenced to amputation of four fingers of his right hand over allegedly having committed “theft”.

According to statistics compiled by the KHRN, in 2022, the sentences for amputating four fingers of the right hand of four prisoners Barat Hosseini from Kermanshah, Pouya Torabi, Morteza Jalili and Behrouz Moradi were executed at the infirmary of Tehran’s Evin Prison.