Iran has unveiled a brand new finger-amputating machine that it will use in its increasingly strict punishment of thieves.

Photographs published by Iran’s official press agency show a blindfolded man having his fingers severed by what appears to be a crude amputation device.

According to the Insa news service, the man had been convicted of theft and adultery in a court in Shiraz the previous week.

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In the four images, two masked me dressed entirely in black hold the man’s hand in a vice while another turns a wheel that operates a rotary saw style blade.

In none of the images does the man appear to express any pain, suggesting he may have been drugged before the amputation.

Immediately after the public amputation, the local public prosecutor announced punishment of thieves is to become increasingly severe.

The warning was issued without explanation, but media sources believe it could be an attempt to deter public protests ahead of a general election in June.

Iran’s human rights record has long been the subject of international condemnation, with death by stoning, and torture, including flogging and amputation routine punbishments.

Earlier this month, 21 year-old Ali Naderi was executed for the alleged murder of an elderly woman killed during a burglary he committed aged 17.

It is illegal under international law to execute anyone for a crime committed as a minor.