(Beirut) – Iranian authorities used a “guillotine machine” to amputate fingers of three detained men in the late hours of July 30, 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. The three men, Hadi Rostami, 38, Mehdi Sharifian, 42, and Mehdi Shahivand, 29, had been convicted of theft after grossly unfair trials.
An informed source told Human Rights Watch that the men were blindfolded, handcuffed, shackled, and transferred to the office for implementation of sentences, where four fingers of each detainee’s right hand were amputated in the presence of prison and prosecutorial officials. The men were then taken to a hospital, where their hands were bandaged, but they were returned to Urmia Central Prison in West Azerbaijan province after only several hours.
“By amputating fingers of Hadi Rostami, Mehdi Sharifian, and Mehdi Shahivand, Iran’s authorities have once again committed gruesome acts of torture, putting their harrowing disregard for human rights and people’s dignity on full display,” said Bahar Saba, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These acts are prosecutable under international law and countries that have universal jurisdiction provisions should criminally investigate and prosecute all officials responsible for ordering and carrying out acts of torture, including amputations.”
Iranian authorities convicted the three men in November 2019 over accusations that they had broken into several houses and robbed safes, following a grossly unfair trial. The court sentenced all three to amputations of four fingers of their right hands in a manner that “only the palm of their hands and thumbs are left.” According to case information reviewed by Human Rights Watch and accounts of informed sources, the men did not have access to lawyers during the investigation phase and the court relied on the torture-tainted self-incriminating statements to convict them.
The three men have spent eight years in prison facing repeated threats that authorities would carry out the amputations, including in April 2025, threats that themselves constituted a form of torture or other ill-treatment.
In October 2024, authorities subjected two brothers, Mehrdad Teimouri and Shahab Teimouri, to torture by amputating their fingers, also in Urmia Central Prison. Other people, including two men, Kasra Karami and Morteza Esmaeilian, held respectively in Urmia Central Prison and Tabriz Prison, remain under amputation sentences.
Under international law, the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering as an act of punishment constitutes torture and is strictly prohibited. All states parties to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment are obligated to investigate and prosecute or extradite for prosecution anyone suspected of torture, including complicity or participation in torture, within their territories.
