ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Two Kurdish nationals convicted of theft in Iran had their fingers amputated at Urmia Central Prison on Tuesday, according to a report by a human rights organization.

“Shahab and Mehrdad Teimouri were each sentenced by Section 1 of the West Azerbaijan Juvenile Court to the amputation of four fingers on their right hand,” the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said on Tuesday.

The brothers, originally from Kermanshah province, were initially arrested in 2019 on theft charges.

They were later sentenced to have their fingers amputated by the court and “were then taken to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Urmia for medical treatment,” HRANA said.

Article 198 of the Criminal Code of the Islamic Republic provides a series of conditions for amputation punishments. Among the main conditions is that the person punished must be healthy, not under duress and not have committed the crime in a time of hunger.

Iran has been controlled by a strict Islamic theocracy since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Amputation of hands is a prescribed punishment for thieves in Islamic Sharia law.

Iran is also among the world’s most prolific executioners.

In Iran, many people are executed for drug-related crimes, which Amnesty International in June called a “deadly war on the poor” that targets disadvantaged and marginalized communities.

Executions also frequently follow convictions that are based on confessions condemned by rights groups as often obtained under duress.