Three black-masked men stood on either side of a blind-folded, bearded man and held him as they guided his right hand towards what looks like a saw blade on the side of a large machine. A bloody finger flops off.

The man, a convicted thief and adulterer, suffered the grisly punishment in public in Iran late last week, according a report and graphic pictures posted by Iran's official Student News Agency Friday.

The ISNA published four photographs of the incident, one of which appears to shows a masked member of the Iranian authorities showing the crowd the bloody aftermath of the 29-year-old's hand. The man does not appear to show pain in any of the pictures, leading the French outlet France 24 to speculate he may have been drugged.

Immediately following the amputation, a local prosecutor reportedly issued a warning to all would-be criminals: the punishment for such crimes would be getting more severe.

The amputation comes just days after about 300 people reportedly gathered to witness a public execution by hanging in a Tehran park, as reported by The New York Times. The Times said that the public hanging was part of a "heavy-handed offensive by Iranian authorities, who say they are trying to prevent rising crime rates from getting out of hand by setting harsh examples."

According to Norway-based Iran Human Rights, monitoring of Iran's media shows there have been eight public hangings, one public amputation and four public lashings in Iran in the past 10 days alone.

http://news.yahoo.com/iran-uses-machine-amputate-finger-161323571--abc-news-topstories.html

It's free and they don't have to pay to watch??

If they want less crime, just do like Hussein and take away all the guns.

That is sure to work.

Good thing i don't live there. I'd be legless and amputated up to my armpits because of adultery. Not to mention my tongue would have to go.

No brag, just the facts.