April 10, 2025 — The World Medical Association (WMA) has once again raised alarm over the use of corporal punishment in Iran, calling on authorities to immediately and unconditionally abolish all such practices. The renewed statement comes amid reports that five men—Hadi Rostami, Kasra Karami, Mehdi Shahivand, Mehdi Sharifian, and Morteza Esmaeilian—face imminent risk of finger amputation in Urumieh Central Prison.
Although the WMA’s formal statement was first published on November 1, 2024, the organization re-shared the message on April 10, 2025, via its official Facebook account to highlight the urgent need for international attention and intervention.
“Amputation purposely inflicts extreme pain, irreversible disability and obliterates human dignity. As such, it constitutes a cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment,”
— Dr. Ashok Philip, President of the World Medical Association
The WMA emphasized that such practices violate international law, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran ratified in 1975. Article 7 of the Covenant clearly prohibits “torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The WMA’s statement highlights the ethical conflict imposed on medical professionals under Iranian law, which requires the presence of physicians during the assessment and execution of amputations.
“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. Ashok Philip
The Association reiterated its unwavering support for doctors who refuse to participate in such inhumane acts and urged all Iranian authorities to uphold international human rights standards.
The WMA concluded by asserting its core mission: to ensure that physicians worldwide remain committed to ethical conduct, refusing to engage in or enable any form of torture or degrading treatment.
As global outrage builds, human rights advocates hope that renewed pressure from medical organizations and civil society will prevent the scheduled amputations and push Iranian authorities toward reform.
📄 Read the full WMA statement here:
The World Medical Association press release
 has once again raised alarm over the use of corporal punishment in Iran.){kind=link}