Eye for an eye punishment

[g220ba]

Very interesting story developing in Iran:

'Eye for an eye' acid punishment postponed after outcry

May 16, 2011 2:01pm

The court-ordered blinding of an Iranian man as punishment for throwing acid on a woman who spurned him has been postponed, but heated debate over his crime and such "eye for an eye" punishments continues.

Majid Movahedi was due to be made unconscious in a prison hospital in Tehran on Saturday and acid was to be dropped into his eyes by his victim, Ameneh Bahrami.

Ms Bahrami, a engineer, was blinded and severely disfigured after Movahedi threw a bucket of acid in her face in 2004 for rejecting his marriage proposals. Movahedi was 21 when he assaulted her.

But Movahedi received an 11th-hour reprieve on Friday night, the Iranian news agency ISNA reported.

While Iranian authorities did not say why the sentence was not carried out, the country had been under international pressure to stop it from going ahead.

Groups such as Amnesty International argued that the sentence was "a cruel and inhuman punishment amounting to torture".

But others in Iran feared that "forgiveness", the other legal choice open to Ms Bahrami, would only encourage similar crimes.

"There's no doubt public opinion inside Iran has been stirred up," Iranian women's rights activist Asieh Amini told Time magazine.

"There's been a huge outpouring of sympathy for both of them, and this puts pressure on the government."

Ms Bahrami herself pushed for qesas - a form of retributive justice under Sharia law.

"I've suffered so much in these years but now I am really happy," the 7sobh daily reported her on Saturday as saying, Agence France-Presse reported.

"The verdict is completely legal and I would like to carry it out. But if it is not possible, then the physician designated by the judiciary will do it."

She also told BBC Persian television on Saturday: "I want people like him to know that they will suffer forever if they cause someone such suffering.

"I want him to be punished foremost. But if there are human rights considerations, then I'll accept €2 million and his life imprisonment," Time magazine quoted her as saying.

Iranian-American journalist Azadeh Moaveni wrote in Time that the young woman's case was a "unique dilemma" for Iranian authorities.

"Unlike many human rights cases which excite opinion primarily in the West, it has resonated deeply throughout Iranian society; the attention inside Iran raises the prospect of a public backlash at a time when the regime is deeply divided by political infighting."

Dr Jan Ali, a sociologist in Islam at the University of Western Sydney's School of Humanities and Languages, said the crime was a reflection of the unequal relationship between Iranian men and women.

"There seems to be an attitude among the men in Iran where women are seen as subordinate to men.

"What this highlights is that ... the man saw himself as a masculine male who can treat anyone [in any way]. Unfortunately in this case it happened to be a woman and he expressed a misogynist attitude towards a particular woman.

"Given the history of Iranian society where males have been dominant, I don't see it changing any time soon."

Amini said the legal options of either qesas or "forgiveness" placed Ms Bahrami in a tight spot.

"Bahrami must sit in the place of the judge and either forgive her attacker or take revenge. The legal system pushes her into a dead end, and it's really the law that's deficient here."

Ms Bahrami, who was 26 at the time of the attack, was not told of the postponement and found out about the change only from journalists, the BBC reported.

She travelled to Iran from Spain, where she had undergone 17 operations following the attacks, The Guardian reported.

"I couldn't believe it," she told the BBC after being informed of the postponement. "I think human rights activists are trying to stop me from carrying out the sentence."

It would have been the first time such a sentence was carried out in Iran, AFP reported, quoting 7sobh.

In December, an Iranian court ruled that a man was to lose an eye and an ear after he blinded another man and burnt his ear in an acid attack.

The month before, the Iranian Supreme Court upheld a ruling that ordered a man undergo the same "eye for an eye" punishment, after he blinded his lover's husband by throwing acid in his face.

Neither sentence is known to have been carried out.

In Saudi Arabia in August, a man was sentenced to have his spinal cord severed after he paralysed another man by attacking him with a cleaver.

But doctors charged with carrying out the medical procedure refused to operate on the man, saying "inflicting such harm is not possible".

The last known case where the "an eye for an eye" punishment was carried out was 11 years ago in Saudi Arabia, when an Egyptian had an eye surgically removed for disfiguring another man in an acid attack, the Daily Mail reported.

Everyone thoughts?

[hiper]

what the hell? is attacking someone with acid a common thing over there?

[Nic302ef]

most old religions including the old testment and some parts of the new testement where it is "quoted" an eye for an eye, however if these people would read the whole thing not just use parts of a bible that suits there current state of mind etc, to get there way or form of punishiment in this case.

human torture is just plain barbaric,

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by hiper

what the hell? is attacking someone with acid a common thing over there?

More common in Pakistan and Bangladesh...well I read more of it happening over there because the female wouldn't marry the guy who does it.

Also for anyone that is interested this is what the women looks like now.

[Jim Goose]

Sounds like the punishment fits the crime... but somehow i think it wont happen due to political pressures both internally and externally.

[93EB_SXR6]

Coward.

[Work Horse]

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mohandas Gandhi


I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
Mohandas Gandhi

[JC]

Unfortunately, men like that are pigs - most of us have been "tamed", but in some cultures, the way men treat women is disgraceful.

[Windsor220]

I read this story on my phone yesterday I think it was. Then when I looked it up on google discovered how old it was.

From 2008
http://articles.cnn.com/2008-12-14/w...er?_s=PM:WORLD

[Ford_The_Win]

What is this, the 12th century? It's a backwards punishment for a backwards society... it's unreal how they live in mediaeval times over there. Our adversarial system isn't perfect but I will stick with it I think.

[FPVF6X201]

No different to the usual call for capital punishment here in Aus.

Some guy kills someone else and the immediate family almost always calls for CP to be reinstated.

If some moronic shiite killed your loved one, wouldnt you want revenge, a death for a death? I know i would, with or without the justice system.

[Geez Louise]

Originally Posted by Work Horse

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mohandas Gandhi

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
Mohandas Gandhi

Two of my all time favourite quotes. I repeat the top one often in conversations when people start talking about punishments. We can learn a lot from past mistakes and yet we still keep making them...

[MexicanBatman]

Originally Posted by Windsor220

I read this story on my phone yesterday I think it was. Then when I looked it up on google discovered how old it was.

From 2008
http://articles.cnn.com/2008-12-14/w...er?_s=PM:WORLD

LOL and in other late breaking news, man walks on the moon... I love how stories get recycled

Good detective work

[Dave R]

Wow, how can you go from loving someone enough to propose, to disfiguring them with acid because they declined. I say burn him!

[SEZ213]

That poor woman...

Whilst I personally don't believe in extracting revenge, more a point that it drags you down to their level, I believe that the punishment should befit the crime. As a world, we really need to start taking responsibility for our actions. What punishment does he get for ruining her life? A beautiful woman disfigured by archaic and animalistic behaviour. 17 operations? I really do feel for her.

[MAGPIE]

He should be awake when they do it not unconcious

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by MAGPIE

He should be awake when they do it not unconcious

As well as pre-boil the acid, and do it in a public square for all to see...

Yes... we can all be lovey dovey and go against violence but these cowards do it because 1) It's seen as religiously / culturally / socially acceptable in their neck of the woods and 2) Most get away with it...

[Gobes32]

This is why multiculturalism does not always work. Some nations are just so far reached from ours there is surely no hope of finding a middle ground?

[302 XC]

So if the "Eye for an eye" punishment was world wide implimented
Would people then consider a crime before its committed

You steal and burn someones car,it happens to you
You shoot someones dog it happens to you
Someone glasses you in the face, it happens back

Although youd think in this day and age , people are responsible
But its not the case,
People get away with alot more than ever before

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

This is why multiculturalism does not always work. Some nations are just so far reached from ours there is surely no hope of finding a middle ground?

Totally agree

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by 302 XC

So if the "Eye for an eye" punishment was world wide implimented
Would people then consider a crime before its committed

You steal and burn someones car,it happens to you
You shoot someones dog it happens to you
Someone glasses you in the face, it happens back

Although youd think in this day and age , people are responsible
But its not the case,
People get away with alot more than ever before

For centuries, millenia really, there was a death penalty for murder. Yet people still committed the crime.

Would it stop me? nope. But thats because I wouldnt do it in the first place. To most normal people it would seem like it could work, thats the way we understand things, but the type of people who commit such acts dont think in the same way. We have plenty of them here, and they arent necessarily middle eastern or muslim.

Some people are just ...broken and cant be fixed or understood.


Not to mention that unfortunately people are falsely accused, or wrongly identified, how do you reverse such penalties?

[mik]

humans are the scariest of all animals without a doubt.

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

This is why multiculturalism does not always work. Some nations are just so far reached from ours there is surely no hope of finding a middle ground?

black fellas have been up to this sort of thing for years... only difference it may involve a spear and be referred to as 'pay back'.... i likes it.........

[zdcol71]

Thanks for your input Louise....there's some scary stuff being said here!

[Streets]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

This is why multiculturalism does not always work. Some nations are just so far reached from ours there is surely no hope of finding a middle ground?

Sure there is; there are thousands of peaceful Iranians living here and contributing to society as living proof.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

This is why multiculturalism does not always work. Some nations are just so far reached from ours there is surely no hope of finding a middle ground?

There are plenty of anglo Australians who are pretty f'ed in the head and do atrocious things.

[v gate]

diffrent strokes for diffrent folks i guess. You toucha my car i breaka you face. you touch my kids you will die slowly and after that you will die again.

[Airmon]

Originally Posted by Nic302ef

most old religions including the old testment and some parts of the new testement where it is "quoted" an eye for an eye, however if these people would read the whole thing not just use parts of a bible that suits there current state of mind etc, to get there way or form of punishiment in this case.

human torture is just plain barbaric,

Doubt they've read much of the New or Old Testaments in Iran.

[Ben73]

Eye for an eye punishment is probably not the way to go. But I would not feel sympathy for any criminal who gets what they give as their punishment.
Serves them right.

[Fireblade]

An eye for an eye punishment is the harshest end of the scale of punishments but, if this were the mainstream case in a lot of countries maybe not so much violent crime would happen. We need punishments that fit the crime, too many getting away with violent crime.