Does amputation exist as a punishment in Iranian law?

Question

According to this article two men have been sentenced to the removal of each of their right hands' four fingers. Is this allowed for by Iranian law?

Answer 1

Article 278 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code lists the punishment for theft, where the conditions for hadd punishment are met, including:

• (B) The stolen property was placed in herz [a secure place]

• (C) The thief breached the herz [the secure place].

• (D) The thief takes out the property from the herz [the secure place].

• (E) The theft and breaching the herz [the secure place] are committed secretly.

• (G) The stolen property, at the time it was taken out from the herz [the secure place] has a value equal to four and a half nokhod [a traditional unit of weight] of coined gold [equal to 0.87 g] [roughly $60 for 24K gold, probably a lot more in terms of Iranian purchasing power parity]

• (H) The stolen property is not the property of the government or a public property or a public endowment or an endowment for public good.

• (I) The theft was not committed in a time of famine

• (J) The owner of the property makes a complaint against the thief before judicial bodies

• (K) The owner of the property has not forgiven the thief prior to the proof of the theft

• (L) The stolen property is not returned to the owner prior to the proof of the theft

On the first occasion, amputation of the full length of four fingers of the right hand of the thief in such a manner that the thumb and palm of the hand remain.

It is important to note that, due to the additional conditions provided in Article 268, what is referred to as theft is actually more akin to what would in england-and-wales be called burglary. So the translation of hadd theft is a bit misleading. Rather than sounding like something which England is accustomed to punishing by a slap on the wrist (shoplifting under £200 is punishable by an absolute maximum of 6 months in prison but usually disposed of with a mere fine or discharge, while other thefts are limited to 7 years in custody) the equivalent punishment in the UK would actually be that of burglary, which is punishable by up to lifetime in prison, which the amputation in Iran is actually taking the place of. It should also be noted that in the UK, burglars do not have the opportunity to automatically avoid hefty prison terms simply by returning the stolen property to the owner before the time of trial.

Answer 2

Article 278 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code lists the punishment for theft:

On the first occasion, amputation of the full length of four fingers of the right hand of the thief in such a manner that the thumb and palm of the hand remain.

See also the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review of Iran (2025)

Article 278 of the Islamic Penal Code of 2013 provides for the amputation of four fingers of individuals convicted of theft. This sentence violates Article 7 of the ICCPR, which prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.