Editing Amputation (section)

=== Criminal penalties ===
{{anchor|Criminal penalty}}
* According to [[Quran 5:38]], the punishment for stealing is the amputation of the hand. Under [[Sharia law]], after repeated offense, the foot may also be cut off. This is still in practice today in countries like [[Brunei]], the [[United Arab Emirates]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Burglar's hand to be amputated|url=https://gulfnews.com/uae/crime/burglars-hand-to-be-amputated-1.343257|access-date=2021-11-03|website=Gulf News|date=30 December 2004 |language=en}}</ref> [[Iran]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=2010-10-17 |title=Iranian chocolate thief faces hand amputation |work=[[BBC News Online]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-11559750 |access-date=2021-06-28}}</ref><ref name="Telegraph 2008">{{Cite news |last=Dovan |first=Fiona |date=2008-02-09 |title=Iran envoy defends amputation |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1578146/Iran-envoy-defends-amputation.html |url-access=limited |access-date=2021-06-28}}</ref> [[Saudi Arabia]],<ref name="MC 2007">{{Cite news |date=2007-11-05 |title=Saudi Arabia chops off hand of Egyptian for theft |work=Monsters and Critics |url=http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1371270.php/Saudi_Arabia_chops_off_hand_of_Egyptian_for_theft |url-status=dead |access-date=2021-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811044139/http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1371270.php/Saudi_Arabia_chops_off_hand_of_Egyptian_for_theft |archive-date=2010-08-11}}</ref> [[Yemen]],<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-09-16|title=Yemeni man sentenced to hand and foot amputation for armed robbery|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2013/09/yemeni-man-sentenced-hand-and-foot-amputation-armed-robbery/|access-date=2021-11-03|publisher=Amnesty International|language=en}}</ref> and 11 of the 36 states within [[Nigeria]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bamford |first=David |date=2001-07-01 |title=Hand amputation in Nigeria |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1428159.stm |access-date=2021-06-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bello |first=Ademola |date=2010-06-11 |title=Who Will Save Amputees of Sharia Law in Nigeria? |work=[[Huffington Post]] |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/who-will-save-amputees-of_b_532949 |access-date=2021-06-28}}</ref>
* '''[[Cross-amputation]]''' is one of the [[Hudud]] punishments prescribed under [[Fiqh|Islamic jurisprudence]] (Sharia law) and involves cutting off the right hand and left foot of the alleged transgressor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tarabella |first=Marc |title=Parliamentary question {{!}} VP/HR - Cross-amputation in Yemen {{!}} E-011050/2013 |publisher=European Parliament |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2013-011050_EN.html |access-date=2023-08-07 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=Rudolph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Im95I7FjrvwC |title=Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-79226-4 |pages=166 |language=en}}</ref> The scriptural authority for the double amputation procedure is in the [[Quran]] (''surah'' 5.33–34) which stipulates:{{blockquote|The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might for mischief through the land is execution or crucifixion, or cutting of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land. As for the thief, male or female, cut off their hands and feet from opposite ends in recompense for what they have committed.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Quran, sura 5, verse 33 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2002.02.0006%3Asura%3D5%3Averse%3D33 |website=Perseus Project|publisher=Tufts University}}</ref>}} The severe [[punishment]], for "highway robbery (''[[hirabah]]'', ''qat' al-tariq'') and civil disturbance against Islam", is usually carried out in a single session in public, without anaesthetic and using a sword. The ancient punishment is practised in Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-12-16 |title=Saudi Arabia: King urged to commute 'cross amputation' sentences |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2011/12/saudi-arabia-king-urged-commute-cross-amputation-sentences/ |access-date=2023-08-07 |publisher=Amnesty International |language=en}}</ref> Sudan,<ref>{{cite web |title=Sudanese man sentenced to cross amputation for committing armed robbery |publisher=African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies |url=https://www.acjps.org/sudanese-man-sentenced-to-cross-amputation-for-committing-armed-robbery/}}</ref> Somalia,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rice |first1=Xan |title=Somali schoolboy tells of how Islamists cut off his leg and hand |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/20/somali-islamists-schoolboy-amputation-ordeal |website=The Guardian |date=20 October 2010}}</ref> Mauritania, the Maldives,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/34967/chapter-abstract/298608517?redirectedFrom=fulltext | title = Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: A Fresh Interpretation |chapter=32: Shariah Punishments in the Islamic Republics of Mauritania and Maldives, and Islamic State of Yemen|date=2019 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190910648.003.0032 |last1=Kamali |first1=Mohammad Hashim |pages=321–328 |isbn=978-0-19-091064-8 }}</ref> Iran,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pannier |first1=Bruce |title=Criminals Lose Hands And Feet As Shari'a Law Imposed |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1079325.html |website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |language=en}}</ref> Afghanistan (under Taliban rule),{{citation needed|date=April 2025}} and Yemen.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- Staff--> |title=The World's Most Barbaric Punishments |url=https://www.newsweek.com/worlds-most-barbaric-punishments-74537 |website=Newsweek |language=en |date=8 July 2010}}</ref>
* In 1779, [[Thomas Jefferson]] proposed a bill to the [[Virginia Assembly]] that ostensibly would have replaced [[capital punishment]] with other penalties, including amputation, for certain crimes,<ref name="Boyd TJP">{{cite book |editor-last=Boyd |editor-first=Julian P. |editor-link=Julian P. Boyd |date=1950 |title=[[The Papers of Thomas Jefferson]] |volume=2 |chapter=Bill No. 64. A Bill for Proportioning Crimes and Punishments in Cases Heretofore Capital |pages=492–507 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/thepapersofthoma0002unse/page/492/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Wilson Bill 64" /> although not all were really punishable by death at the time.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyd|1950|p=505}}</ref> For the crimes of rape, sodomy, and polygamy (the last removed from a later version), the punishment was to be [[castration]] for men or [[rhinotomy]] for women.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyd|1950|pp=497,506n12}}</ref> For [[Mayhem (crime)|intentional maiming]], the bill specified literal [[eye for an eye]] retribution.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyd|1950|p=498}}</ref> The bill never passed, due to the combination of its perceived barbarity in some parts and perceived leniency in others.<ref name="Wilson Bill 64">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia |title=Bill 64 |last=Wilson |first=Gaye |date=May 1999 |url=https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/bill-64/ |publisher=Thomas Jefferson Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Boyd|1950|pp=505–506}}</ref>
* In England, the [[Offences within the Court Act 1541]] provided for cutting off a hand as punishment for striking someone inside a courtroom. Thomas Jefferson's punishments revision bill also intended to repeal this.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyd|1950|p=493}}. Jefferson cited a work of [[William Stanford (judge)|Stamford]] and the [[Offences within the Court Act 1541]] (33 Hen 8 c.<!--This stands for "chapter" not "circa". Do not use {{circa}}--> 12).</ref> The punishment was abolished in England and Wales by the [[Offences Against the Person Act 1828]].
* As of 2021, this form of punishment is controversial, as most modern cultures consider it to be morally abhorrent, as it has the effect of permanently disabling a person and constitutes torture. It is thus seen as grossly disproportionate for crimes less than those such as murder.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18282 |title=Somalia: Amputation punishments are 'torture' says Amnesty |publisher=Amnesty International |access-date=2021-01-08 |archive-date=2013-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003223301/https://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18282 |url-status=dead }}</ref>