What is the punishment for group theft, and are all individuals punished or only the perpetrator?
Collective theft has two scenarios: 1. All participants directly commit the theft by jointly removing the stolen item from its secure place. In this case, they are partners in both liability (guarantee) and punishment (amputation). 2. Some participants directly commit the theft, while others contribute indirectly by providing assistance without direct involvement. In this case, liability (guarantee) falls upon everyone, but the punishment (amputation) is applied only to those who directly committed the act.
For example, if one person drills a hole and another person removes items, neither of them is subject to amputation unless the value of what was removed by the drilling, along with the tools used to breach the wall, reaches the (minimum threshold for amputation). In that case, the person who drilled the hole is amputated. However, if they collaborated in drilling the hole, and then one of them individually removed the items, the one who removed the items is amputated because he is the thief.
If a group of people gathers for usurpation or theft, each one of them is liable for the entirety of what was taken, because some of them strengthened others.
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