An Iranian woman, living in Spain, has welcomed the ruling of the courts in Tehran to award her ‘eye-for-an-eye’ justice against her assailant.
In 2004, Ameneh Bahrami was blinded and badly disfigured after a man threw acid in her face because she rejected his proposal of marriage.
In November, an Iranian court ruled that the man should also be blinded by acid under the principle of Islamic law known as ‘an eye-for-an-eye’. However, the ruling stated that the man should only be blinded in one eye because in Iran, one man is worth two women.
Ameneh Bahrami appealed on the grounds that the man would still be able to live with one eye and the court then ruled that the man should be blinded in both eyes. There was a condition, though. Ameneh Bahram had to agree to forego the €20,000 she was due to receive from the assailant’s family.
Ameneh Bahrami has stated that her motivation for asking for the application of Islamic law was not based upon revenge, but to set an example so that other woman may not have to suffer the same sort of ordeal that she has had to suffer.
Asked whether she thought she was being equally as cruel, she stated that the assailant, who admitted the acid attack, will be anaesthetised to prevent him from suffering any pain and that only a few drops of acid would be poured on his eyes and it would not leave him disfigured, or suffering internal injuries, as happened to her.
Ameneh Bahrami moved to Spain after the attack in order get medical treatment. She did recover 40% vision in one eye, but then contracted an infection which left her totally blind again.