A judge in the northwest province of Tabuk in Saudi Arabia has allegedly sent letters to hospitals in the country asking if they could sever a man's spinal cord as punishment for paralyzing another man in a fight two years ago.

"We urge the Saudi Arabian authorities not to carry out such a punishment, which amounts to nothing less than torture," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, acting director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme of Amnesty International said in a statement over the weekend.

"While those guilty of a crime should be held accountable, intentionally paralyzing a man in this way would constitute torture, and be a breach of its international human rights obligations."

So far, one hospital had said it was possible to paralyze the man through a medical procedure.

The BBC reported that 22-year-old Abdul-Aziz al-Mitairy told local Saudi newspaper Oakz that the accused paralyzed him by stabbing him in the back with a cleaver two years ago and that the man confessed to his crime in front of the police. He was sentenced to seven months in prison without any legal assistance.

Amnesty International said there is a chance that the court would not go through with it, instead sentencing the man to prison, a fine or a flogging.