Ozioma Ngwu 
The World Medical Association (WMA) has urged the United Nations (UN) to intervene and end amputation punishment, which is currently taking place in Iranian prisons. This comes after a report shows that a special guillotine machine has been installed in a medical clinic in an Iranian prison to carry out amputations.
To this end, the President of WMA, Dr. Heidi Stensmyren, in a news release said “Information we have seen from Amnesty International indicates that the chief doctor at the prison medical clinic was present at recent amputation sentences being carried out. It is horrific that any doctor should be involved at such punishments and it is equally despicable that a place where these acts of torture are occurring should be called a medical clinic.” WMA, therefore, joined forces with Amnesty International and urges UN member states to pressure the Iranian authorities to stop such punishment as it is in violation of ethical guidelines and international human rights law. Consequently, they called on the Iranian authorities to comply with its international obligations, to investigate and prosecute Iranian officials suspected of criminal responsibility as such abhorrent practices are simply unworthy of a state governed by the rule of law.