Iran’s hardline rulers are poised to amputate the fingers of three prisoners in a brutal act of state-sanctioned torture, campaigners have claimed. Hadi Rostami, 38, Mehdi Sharifian, 42, and Mehdi Shahivand, 29, were convicted of theft in 2019 following what Human Rights Watch described as grossly unfair trials marred by forced confessions and allegations of severe mistreatment.

Officials at Urmia Central Prison in West Azerbaijan Province are understood to have informed the men on March 13 that their sentences could be carried out as soon as April 11. Bahar Saba, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “Amputation is torture, plain and simple. Yet Iran persists in carrying out cruel and inhuman punishments that fly in the face of its human rights obligations.”

The men were arrested in 2017 for breaking into homes and stealing from safes.

According to documentation reviewed by Human Rights Watch, they were denied access to legal counsel during the investigation phase. They only saw lawyers twice—once to sign representation forms and again during court hearings.

All three say they were subjected to torture by police investigators to extract confessions. The alleged abuses included beatings, floggings, and being suspended from their wrists for prolonged periods. Mr Rostami said he was made to sign a blank piece of paper later filled with incriminating statements.

Despite retracting their confessions in court, their statements were used as the sole basis for their convictions. No forensic evidence was presented. The court sentenced them each to have four fingers on their right hands amputated “so that only the palm and thumb are left".

The Supreme Court later upheld the verdicts without ordering an investigation into the torture allegations.

Mr Rostami, who has filed multiple complaints with senior judicial officials, was flogged with 60 lashes in 2021 following a hunger strike, according to Amnesty International. The flogging was described as a retaliatory act for “disrupting prison order”.

Ms Saba said: “The authorities are not just ignoring torture—they are compounding it. All officials responsible for ordering and carrying out acts of torture, including any medical professionals participating in them, will be liable for criminal prosecution under international law.”

Under Iranian Islamic penal code provisions for hudud crimes, certain theft offences can be punished by amputation. The procedure is typically carried out without anaesthetic unless doing so would result in injuries beyond the scope of the sentence. Iran’s regulations require medical professionals to be present, violating international ethical codes.

The World Medical Assembly’s 1975 Declaration of Tokyo explicitly bars doctors and medical staff from participating in torture or any form of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

In a letter published in March by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, Mr Rostami once again appealed to international organisations for help.

He wrote: “We are living a horrific nightmare that could become reality any second."

The looming amputations follow the removal of fingers from two brothers, Mehrdad and Shahab Teimouri, in the same prison in October 2024. At least two more men, Kasra Karami and Morteza Esmaeilian, face similar sentences in Urmia.

The punishment comes as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continues to impose hardline judicial policies under the leadership of President Masoud Pezeshkian, who took office following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May 2024.

The timing has raised alarm internationally, amid a sharp rise in tensions across the Middle East. Iran has been blamed for arming and directing proxy groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah.

At the same time, the Islamic fundamentalist republic is backing of Houthi rebels in Yemen has contributed to attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has also stepped up threats against Israel following its deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus earlier this month.

Inside Iran, meanwhile, the regime has stepped up repression of women’s rights campaigners, ethnic minorities, and civil society groups. Amnesty International and other watchdogs have recorded a surge in arbitrary detentions, public floggings, and executions in recent months.

While Iran has long faced criticism for its use of corporal punishment, the prospect of amputating prisoners’ fingers in 2025 has triggered renewed outrage.

Ms Saba said: “All United Nations member states should urgently call on Iran to abide by its human rights obligations and immediately revoke these sentences."

Human Rights Watch has also urged countries with universal jurisdiction to open criminal investigations into Iranian officials and medical personnel involved in torture or cruel punishments.

Despite decades of condemnation, Iranian authorities have consistently refused to investigate torture claims or halt judicial amputations—what campaigners say is a deliberate strategy of institutionalised brutality used to instil fear and suppress opposition.