Hand Amputation in Khorasan Razavi for Man Accused of Stealing Sheep
(Note: This piece originally appeared under the title "Thief's Hand Amputation Sentence Carried Out.")
The hand amputation sentence of a 34-year-old thief who confessed to stealing sheep from rural areas surrounding several cities in Khorasan Razavi and South Khorasan was carried out at 9 AM yesterday morning at Mashhad Central Prison.
According to exclusive reporting from Khorasan [Newspaper,] multiple thefts in areas surrounding some cities in Khorasan Razavi and South Khorasan began as an unknown person or persons rustled sheep from rural residents by tearing up fences at night. Day by day, the range of the rustling expanded to other cities, causing concern among residents. Law enforcement authorities thus obtained a special judicial order and undertook widespread efforts to identify the parties responsible.
Law enforcement investigations based on plaintiff’s complaints show that every time the thief or thieves struck sheep pens, they stole a great number of sheep. Though other property (e.g. gold items, motorcycles) was also stolen by the thief or thieves in the course of the thefts, police reports state that sheep were the main target of the actions, which occurred at country residences and occasionally urban ones.
Khorasan [Newspaper] reports that law enforcement collected information, performed expert analyses, and finally arrived at leads which indicated that a 28-year-old man played a leading role in the thefts. In a coordinated operation, after obtaining judicial permissions, he was arrested and questioned on this basis in 2011/2012. In the course of investigations, the young man confessed to 21 counts of livestock rustling across four counties in Khorasan Razavi and South Khorasan.
Given thefact that secure places were broken into and other particularities of the thefts committed by the 28-year-old man, “Ali K.,” an indictment was issued in the case in one of the counties and the defendant was tried.
In light of the case contents and the precise, multi-faceted investigation of the thefts, the criminal court judge issued a verdict of hand amputation and asset expropriation. This verdict was appealed by the defendant, and the case was taken up by the Branch One Appeals Court in Khorasan Razavi province. The experienced judges of the Appeals Court found the verdict to be in accordance with standards of sharia and law and upheld it.
Exclusive reporting from Khorasan [Newspaper] relates that the finalized sentences from the Appeals Court was thus sent for implementation to a sentence implementation branch of the Mashhad Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor. Yesterday, at 9 AM, it was carried out at Mashhad Central Prison under the supervision of sentence implementation judges, and the hand of the now-34-year-old thief was placed under a guillotine and cut off.
After the legal, shariah-compliant sentence was carried out, the condemned man was transferred directly to a medical facility for treatment.