Blinded woman to put acid in attacker's eyes

[Destroit]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43029928/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

An Iranian man found guilty of using acid to blind a woman who refused to marry him now will have the same done to him as punishment — and she'll be the one who carries out the sentence, her lawyer says.

The lawyer said that at noon Saturday, Ameneh Bahrami would drop acid in both eyes of Majid Movahedi, 30, after he is rendered unconscious at a judiciary hospital in Tehran, The Guardian newspaper reported, citing Iranian media.

Bahrami was disfigured and blinded in 2004 when Movahedi threw acid in her face as she returned home from work, the Guardian reported. After Movahedi admitted to the attack, Bahrami asked a court to order an eye-for-an-eye retribution, under the Islamic law system of "qisas."

The court did so in November 2008, calling for five drops of sulfuric acid to be placed in each of his eyes.

Iranian officials have endorsed the sentence, hoping to stop an increase in acid attacks, the Guardian said.

The Washington Post reported that human rights groups and the British government had asked Bahrami to pardon Movahedi but that she had refused.

“I have been receiving numerous phone calls from Iranian human rightsorganizations based abroad,” Bahrami told the Post in a phone interview Friday. “They are pressuring me to pardon him. But I won’t do that.”

Iran's government helped Bahrami, who has an electronics degree and worked in a medical engineering company before the attack, moved to Spain, where she underwent a series of unsuccessful operations.

She briefly recovered half vision in her right eye in 2007 but an infection blinded her again, the Guardian said.

Bahrami, now in her 30s, wrote a book about her ordeal, “Eye for an Eye,” which was published in Germany.

Edited May 14, 2011 by Chernobyl

[Destroit]

Can't say I don't agree with the sentencing. Really takes the whole "eye-for-an-eye" thing down to exact specifications .

Can't say I don't agree with the sentencing. Really takes the whole "eye-for-an-eye" thing down to exact specifications .

[Vater Araignee]

I disagree with the sentencing.

First he needs the 5 per eye from her but then he needs to be completely coherent and strapped down so that he can't turn his head or shield his face as a proxy for the woman throws acid in his face wile it is simulcast to every monitor in the country.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Trying to remove my emotions from the story, as it is pretty gruesome in both directions (and also not as uncommon as the hype around this one story would make it seem) I'm trying to decide how I'd really want this sort of stuff carried out (or not).

There was a time when this was common in western culture, and , I have to assume there are good reasons for not having "the punishment being the same as the crime" (or an approximation of it) and why we moved away from such practices, but off the top of my head I'm not coming up with anything good.

In lesser crimes, if the punishment for stealing 20 bucks say, was to only have to pay 20 bucks, thieves would go crazy knowing that the punishment was a joke. Thus the (sometimes) practice of hacking off the hands of thieves which, we moved away from in the west long ago.

With more serious (and scary) crimes, some of which would be impossible to "have the punishment be the same as the crime" such as, someone murdering 20 people (you can only really kill the guy once in return.

With all the various insane types of crimes having a system of exacting that same thing done to the person themselves would get pretty complicated (and expensive) I'd think.

Whatever the system, its always imperfect.

There is sort of a push-pull relationship between the "goals" of criminal punishment

"Retribution" vs. "Prevention" or some sort of mixture of the two if any is what I'd have to figure out first.

I could write out some cool sounding "hell yeah" type thing to win a popularity contest but I long ago gave up on that in favor of trying to get at accuracy / truth which in many cases means saying "im not sure" and looking into things further without needing to just declare a stance and then build a moat around it.

[~Tszura~]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43029928/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

I don't know much at all about "qisas," but I think in that environment if she pardoned him then it would be like saying that it was "ok" to do to her. Would I want to live with qisas? Hell, no, but its in full effect there, and I can see why Iranian officials would want her to not pardon him. In my ignorance of the region, I feel like I'm used to hearing about women who receive punishment for "wronging" a man, which is why I'm a little surprised about this decision. Maybe if more of these decisions were enforced, the men, who I'm only assuming head the lawmaking, would take a step back and slowly rework the system.

I know it may be hard core, but the guy receiving the drops is still getting off a little. He has the benefit of it being done in a controlled setting with medical attention, and no facial disfiguring beyond his eyes. She got nothing. The fear, pain, and torment of what was done to her will be with her the rest of her life. She was a beautiful woman, and while she still may be beautiful as a whole, you can't deny that her current physical appearance will make it harder for her to meet someone. That bastard affected her life, and the life of any partner she may meet, along with whomever she may give birth to. And don't think this decision won't be with her forever, either. She's going to have to live with this, and I'm sure it will weigh very heavily on her, at times. Its not just about revenge, though. Its about their law, and what the example will demonstrate.

[Glory13666]

It's definitely not perfect. I feel bad for the poor woman who was blinded but if that happened to me, I don't know if I'd really want to be the one to dole out the punishment. Plus, he's going to be unconscious so it's just not the same. Also, I would assume she has damage to her entire face because acid was thrown at her and not just dropped into her eyes. I just wish people who stop being so stupid and hurting other people but that is never gonna happen.

[Reaper]

It's definitely not perfect. I feel bad for the poor woman who was blinded but if that happened to me, I don't know if I'd really want to be the one to dole out the punishment. Plus, he's going to be unconscious so it's just not the same. Also, I would assume she has damage to her entire face because acid was thrown at her and not just dropped into her eyes. I just wish people who stop being so stupid and hurting other people but that is never gonna happen.

Yeah I think the whole culture of the male over there is overbearing. I see in chatrooms now all these males from the middle east coming in and expecting women to strip and show things. They have absolutely no respect for women at all. To have done to them as they do onto women, is only justice.

[LittleMissLuckyCunt (1)]

I've actually heard of this happening before, its not the first time a story like this became big in the past few years. But, I do agree with it for the most part.

[candyman]

She is doing the right thing here...I really don't have any doubt about it.

As far as fixing our system, keep the pressure on those that commit lesser crimes and for those like rapist, child molesters, and gang members well...we could use some mobile targets that would react like an actual enemy.

[Vater Araignee]

She is doing the right thing here...I really don't have any doubt about it.

As far as fixing our system, keep the pressure on those that commit lesser crimes and for those like rapist, child molesters, and gang members well...we could use some mobile targets that would react like an actual enemy.

Almost true dat! Some of the lesser crimes are thought crimes or harmless to others.

[TitsMcGee]

The only part I don't agree with is that he's going to be knocked out...

[victoriavengeance (1)]

The only part I don't agree with is that he's going to be knocked out...

yeah, she didn't exactly get that luxury now did she.

[candyman]

Almost true dat! Some of the lesser crimes are thought crimes or harmless to others.

It is the perfect system...almost like eye for an eye kinda thing. Then when they tell you to lock it, flip it, and watch your lane you will soon see Pedro the gang banger on the end of the stick he thought he would never be on. Maybe they will take shit seriously if we do that...like what they are doing for this woman. You are in the life forever? Ok...the parole hearing is located on the Range Road in Ft. Jackson so get ready for a bus ride...and the hearing will be short.

[candyman]

The only part I don't agree with is that he's going to be knocked out...

Yes but with her being blind she could "miss" with a little help and take out this dudes man parts...waking up to a melted penis wouldn't be fun...

[Reaper]

yeah in our system, we pay way too much for losers to sit in prison and get better meals than poor people, and watch cable tv and get to harden their bodies to bully people once they get out of prison. Its just too bad that the innocent in prison would fall as well in my ideal prison life.

[victoriavengeance (1)]

Yup. why do you think so many people commit petty crimes just to land themselves in jail when they're homeless or have no money? Because my tax money goes to pay for them to have three meals and tv.... ugh. yes, there are some people who shouldn't be in jail, the innocent, etc, as you were saying Reaper. but for the non exceptions, I stand there.