A Man in Iran Was Mutilated in Shariah Law's 'Eye for an Eye' Version of Justice

A man in Iran had his eye gouged out after he was convicted of blinding another man in an acid attack, according to reports.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported that it marked the first time Iran has carried out such a literal interpretation of Shariah law's "eye for an eye," while the Washington Post described it as “exceptionally rare in Iran.”

According to reports, the man had his left eye gouged out by medical professionals Tuesday after he was sentenced to “retribution in kind,” or qisas, under Islamic law, after he was convicted of throwing acid in a man's face in 2009.

The victim, who has final say on the punishment, decided to postpone having the attacker’s right eye gouged out for six months.

The attacker was also sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay diyah, or “blood money.”

Amnesty International called the gouging “a gruesome example of Iran's brutal justice system in action.”

"This punishment exposes the utter brutality of Iran’s justice system and underlines the Iranian authorities' shocking disregard for basic humanity,” said Raha Bahreini, Iran researcher for Amnesty International.

Another Iranian man convicted of an acid attack faced a similar punishment. The man – identified by the Guardian only as Hamid - was due to be both blinded and made deaf last week but his punishment was postponed for a month at the request of his victim, Davoud Roshanaei, who was disfigured and lost sight in one eye.

“Hamid was about to be rendered unconscious on the bed when his father entered the room and asked me for more time,” Roshanaei said, according to the Guardian. “I gave them two more months to provide me with compensation for my treatment.”

The punishment had been delayed once before in January, the New York Daily News reported, when doctors refused to perform the eye gouging.

Acid attack victim Ameneh Bahrami won international praise in 2011 when she pardoned the man who blinded her in an acid attack after she rejected his marriage proposal.

Front page image via Shutterstock.