The patient-prisoners are among the latest accused criminals to have received hardline Islamic punishments since jihadi rebels and Tuaregs seized power in Mali’s north following a coup in the capital Bamako.
A wan light filters into the room, illuminating the bandages wrapped around the men’s stumps.
“I admit to having attacked a bus full of travelers,” one of the men, Ardo, murmurs to AFP after a reporter gained access to the room.
“But that’s not worth them cutting off a hand and a foot.”
AFP has changed the names of the amputees.
Last month, five men attacked a bus heading from Gao to the Nigerian border and robbed a large sum of money from passengers.
Five days later, Islamist security forces in Gao captured the alleged culprits, four Fulani men and a Tuareg. The captors imposed their interpretation of sharia law and ordered the amputations, which were carried out September 10.