Iran has recently implemented public amputations as punishment for criminals, in accordance with a court ruling aimed at reducing the country’s theft rate, The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) revealed.

The semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on one such public amputation, which took place on January 24 in the city of Shiraz, and displayed images of the apparatus used to carry out the amputation, according to MEMRI.

According the report, a 29-year-old man, who was charged with robbery, selling stolen goods, and engaging in illicit sexual relations, had his hand publicly amputated.

He was also sentenced to 99 lashes and three years of imprisonment.

“[H]is partner in the robberies was given an identical sentence of hand amputation, imprisonment, and lashes,” ISNA reported.

Shiraz public prosecutor Ali Alghasi Mehr said at the event that, “The judicial system has announced repeatedly that it is following a firm and uncompromising policy [against criminals], and every time the latter break the law and threaten the security of society, the judicial system will respond with utter firmness.”

“The public execution of the sentence today is a serious warning to anyone who violates the public order through robbery,” MEMRI quoted him as saying.

Similarly, on November 13, the head of the judicial system in Yazd Province announced that two thieves in Yazd had been sentenced to a public amputation of four fingers each.

“The punishment was carried out in public in order to teach criminals a lesson,” he said. 

Brutal methods of punishment are not new to the regime, which often hangs those convicted of perpetrating crimes.