Iranian thief loses his fingers

AFP: An Iranian man convicted of a series of robberies has had four fingers on his right hand amputated in public, the Jomhuri Eslami newspaper reported Saturday.
The man, who was only identified as Hamid H., was reportedly caught by locals in the southwestern city of Ahvaz while he was out on a burglary in September 2003. AFP

TEHRAN – An Iranian man convicted of a series of robberies has had four fingers on his right hand amputated in public, the Jomhuri Eslami newspaper reported Saturday.

The man, who was only identified as Hamid H., was reportedly caught by locals in the southwestern city of Ahvaz while he was out on a burglary in September 2003.

The judicial amputation took place on Thursday morning, the paper said without giving any further details.

In Iran, thieves are usually only sentenced to amputations if they repeatedly offend.