The World Medical Association calls on Iranian authorities to cease corporal punishment and comply with their international obligations on civil and political rights

WMA calls on Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally abolish all forms of corporal punishment, and to comply with their international obligations, particularly under the International Covenant Civil and Political Rights, ratified by the Republic of Iran in 1975.

The World Medical Association (WMA) highlights the plight of five men, Hadi Rostami, Kasra Karami, Mehdi Shahivand, Mehdi Sharifian and Morteza Esmaeilian, who have been convicted of robbery and are at imminent risk of having their fingers amputated by Iranian authorities.

“Amputation purposely inflicts extreme pain, irreversible disability and obliterates human dignity. As such, it constitutes a cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment,” said Dr Ashok Philip, President of the World Medical Association.

The WMA is concerned with the practice of these barbaric acts by a State that has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, prohibiting cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in all circumstances and without exception.

Furthermore, WMA highlights the core ethical principles of the medical profession prohibiting physicians to participate in any acts of torture or other forms of cruel, inhumane or degrading procedures.

“The requirement under Iranian law of the presence of a physician for the assessment and enforcement of corporal punishments, such as amputation, is therefore in direct violation with our professional duties and we condemn it unconditionally,” Dr Philip continued.

World Medical Association standards to encourage physicians to honour their commitment to serve humanity and to resist pressure to act contrary to the ethical principles governing their dedication to this task.

WMA therefore calls upon Iranian authorities to cease corporal punishment and the Association is fully determined to fully support physicians who refuse to participate in these inhumane actions.