E/CN.4/1996/35/Add.1 page 70 were allegedly targeted for punishment. Toufiq Abdullah Khalid, a surgeon at Ba’Qubah hospital, Diyala province, was reportedly executed on 10 September 1994 for refusing to amputate a hand and for confronting officials of the Ba’ath Party in regard to the issue. Dr. General Ihassan, from Basrah military hospital, Basrah province, was reportedly executed on 27 October 1994, also for refusal to amputate. Doctors Yahya al-Khafaji, Rabie al-Hadi, and Ali Issam, from Saddam hospital in Nasiriyah, were reportedly arrested in late August 1994 for failing to carry out amputations. Dr. Salih Mohammad, from the general hospital of Al-Mosul/Ninawa province, was reportedly arrested on 10 October 1994, also for refusing to carry out amputations. Finally, Abbas Qalander and Nahreen Yousif, both doctors from Baghdad, were said to have been detained after they had disobeyed orders to perform the ear-cutting operation. 380. In the same letter, the Special Rapporteur also advised the Government of cases he had received of reported execution of members of the political opposition. In each case, when family members received the bodies of the alleged victims, they reportedly observed marks of torture, including gouging out of the eyes. Mohammed Ayyob Aldelaimee was reportedly arrested in Mosul on 14 January 1993 and his body was returned to his family in August 1994. Weleed Shaker Mahmood Alubaidi was reportedly arrested in Baghdad on January 1993 and his body was returned to his family in August 1994. Ma’an Wheyeb was reportedly arrested in 1975, imprisoned in Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, transferred to an unknown detention centre on 19 November 1993, and allegedly interrogated by Saddam Kamil, the son-in-law of President Saddam Hussein. His body was returned to his family in the last week of August 1994. Hamid Abid Altaiee was reportedly arrested in Mosul on 15 January 1993 and his body was returned to the family in August 1994. Zuhair Hussein Alhaialee was reportedly arrested in Mosul on 15 January 1993 and his body was returned to his family in 1994. The body of Mohammed Abid Altaiee was returned to his family in the first week of September 1994. Emtasher Mahdi Alwan Al-Mansouri was reportedly arrested at the Directorate of Military Manufacturing in Basrah and his body was returned to his family in 1994. 381. By letter dated 31 July 1995 the Government provided a reply to the Special Rapporteur with respect to the issue of amputation. The penalty of amputation of the hand or the ear and tattooing, which is imposed on thieves and evaders of military service, could not be viewed in isolation from the general situation in Iraq, including the devastating effects on all aspects of life caused by the economic embargo. Theft and armed robbery gravely threatened the security, property and lives of citizens. In these circumstances, which needed to be viewed in the social context of Iraq, the penalties were needed as a deterrent. The amputation of the hand for theft was permissible under Islamic Shari’a, which constitutes one of the sources in the Iraqi legal system. The penalty had been applied only in situations of extreme necessity and in a limited number of cases. The measure was provisional and linked to the current situation. The purpose of tattooing was to distinguish criminals from persons who were mutilated in the recent war. There had also been a substantial reduction in the number of offences to which the penalties applied.