A Show of Hand
Cultural diversity, doncha just love it?
After a convicted thief’s hand was amputated in public in Kermanshah, Ayatollah Mohiyeddin Shirazi, an appointee of the supreme leader of Iran, criticized the halting of public punishments, and added, “Those who say that practices like amputating hands belong to the past are themselves part of the past.” He also claimed that imprisonment had no effect “on educating criminals and reducing crime.”
He may be right about that.
According to Rooz, following the punishment Malekshahi told IRNA that the punishment had been approved by Iran’s Supreme Court. He added that if thieves “don’t want their hands cut off, they should stop stealing.” Also, the Etemad daily quoted Kermanshah’s governor as saying that carrying out hodud in public “has a visible effect on controlling the crime rate.”
So Giuliani was a wimp, eh?