Barbarism or justice?

gulaman · May 14, 2011

Iran has postponed blinding a convicted man in retribution for throwing acid in the face of a woman in 2004, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday.A court sentenced Majid Mohavedi in 2008 to be blinded in both eyes for taking away the sight of Ameneh Bahrami by pouring acid in her face after she spurned his offers of marriage.

Under Iran’s Islamic law, imposed since the 1979 Islamic revolution, qesas (retribution) is permitted in cases where bodily injuries are inflicted.

“The punishment of Majid was scheduled to be carried out on Saturday at a hospital but it has been postponed,” Fars quoted an unnamed official as saying, without giving details.

In 2004, Mohavedi threw acid at Bahrami’s face, blinding the then 24-year-old electronics graduate in both eyes for refusing to marry him, despite several approaches from his family, who are also considered complicit in the attack. Bahrami, whose hands, neck and face were also disfigured in the attack, said she did not want to take revenge, but wanted to “prevent it from happening to someone else.” Mohavedi turned himself to the police and confessed in 2005.

“Regardless of how horrific the crime suffered by Ameneh Bahrami, being blinded with acid is a cruel and inhuman punishment amounting to torture,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program.

The punishment has been postponed and to be fair is not likely to be carried out in a country where women are a subspecies and receive no protection from the law when victims of abuse. I think the Iranian authorities need to make an example of men like this. This type of acid attack is not uncommon in Muslim countries where women are left disfigured for refusing marriage proposals. Perhaps an 'eye for an eye' type punishment would deter these barbaric fellows from committing this type of attack and bring justice to this victim?

Hassony · May 15, 2011

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