A Eye For A Eye

Maybe this punishment will deter other acid attacks on women.


Reza Sayah

CNN


TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Ameneh Bahrami is certain that one day she'll meet someone, fall in love and get married. But when her wedding day comes, her husband won't see her eyes, and she won't see her husband. Bahrami is blind, the victim of an acid attack by a spurned suitor.


Ameneh Bahrami said her attacker pestered her with marriage demands.

1 of 3 If she gets her way, her attacker will suffer the same fate. The 31-year-old Iranian is demanding the ancient punishment of "an eye for an eye," and, in accordance with Islamic law, she wants to blind Majid Movahedi, the man who blinded her.

"I don't want to blind him for revenge," Bahrami said in her parents' Tehran apartment. "I'm doing this to prevent it from happening to someone else."

Bahrami says she first crossed paths with Movahedi in 2002, when they attended the same university.

She was a 24-year-old electronics student. He was 19. She never noticed him until they shared a class. He sat next to her one day and brushed up against her. Bahrami says she knew it wasn't an accident.

"I moved away from him," she said, "but he brushed up against me again." Watch Bahrami return to the attack scene for the first time »

When Bahrami stood up in class and screamed for him to stop, Movahedi just looked at her in stunned silence. He wouldn't stay silent for long.

Bahrami said that over the next two years, Movahedi kept harassing her and making threats, even as he asked her to marry him. "He told me he would kill me. He said, 'You have to say yes.' "

On a November afternoon in 2004, Movahedi's threats turned to violence.

That day at 4:30 p.m., Bahrami left the medical engineering company where she worked. As she walked to the bus stop, she remembers sensing someone behind her.

She turned around and was startled to see Movahedi. A moment later came the agonizing pain. Movahedi had thrown something over her. What felt like fire on her face was acid searing through her skin.

"I was just yelling, 'I'm burning! I'm burning! For God's sake, somebody help me!' "

The acid seeped into Bahrami's eyes and streamed down her face and into her mouth. When she covered her face with her hands, streaks of acid ran down her fingers and onto her forearms. Watch how the still-pungent acid destroyed Bahrami's clothes »

Two weeks after the attack, Movahedi turned himself in to police and confessed in court. He was convicted in 2005 and has been behind bars all along.

Bahrami's lawyer, Ali Sarrafi, said Movahedi had never shown any remorse. "He says he did it because he loved her," Sarrafi said.

Attack victims in Iran usually accept "blood money": a fine in lieu of harsh punishment. With no insurance and mounting medical bills, Bahrami could've used the cash, but she said no.

"I told the judge I want an eye for an eye," Bahrami said. "People like him should be made to feel my suffering." Watch how the acid destroyed Bahrami's eyes (includes graphic content) »

Bahrami's demand has outraged some human rights activists. Criticizing acid-attack victims is almost unheard of, but some Internet bloggers have condemned Bahrami's decision.

"We cannot condone such cruel punishment," wrote one blogger. "To willingly inflict the same treatment on a person under court order is a violation of human rights."

Late last year, an Iranian court gave Bahrami what she asked for. It sentenced Movahedi to be blinded with drops of acid in each eye. This month, the courts rejected Movahedi's appeal.

Bahrami's lawyer, Sarrafi, said the sentencing might be carried out in a matter of weeks. He said he doesn't think Bahrami will change her mind. Neither does Bahrami.

"If I don't do this and there is another acid attack, I will never forgive myself for as long as I live," she said.

Bahrami is largely self-sufficient despite not being able to see. She can make a salad, prepare tea and walk up the five flights of stairs that lead to her parents' apartment.

She has undergone more than a dozen surgeries on her badly scarred face, but she says there are many more to come. She can't afford to pay for her medical care, so she's using the Internet to raise money.


She's lost her big brown eyes, but she likes to smile, especially when she imagines her wedding day.

"I always see myself as someone who can see and sometimes see myself in a beautiful wedding gown, and why not?"


http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/...tim/index.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lizbud

Bahrami's demand has outraged some human rights activists. Criticizing acid-attack victims is almost unheard of, but some Internet bloggers have condemned Bahrami's decision.

"We cannot condone such cruel punishment," wrote one blogger. "To willingly inflict the same treatment on a person under court order is a violation of human rights."

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ANd her rights and life were not violated?

What a crock of crap from the bleeding heart AHs that don't see the 'justice' in letting her speak her mind and possibly stopping some other moron from pulling the same stunt?


I saw go for it and would gladly sent her some suggestions on how to pull the whole thing off!:mad:

I do not understand how someone can undergo such horrible pain and willingly inflict it on another. It won't change her loss of sight, and I don't think it would make me feel any better. What he did was wrong, completely, but, still.

I actually don't see any problem with it, let it be a lesson for others.

She may be able to make tea and a salad but what about her career?

There are many males (I will not refer to them as "human beings") in that part of the world who hate women. They are totally dysfunctional. And people wonder why many Americans fear and hate people from that part of the world.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caseysmom

I actually don't see any problem with it, let it be a lesson for others.

She may be able to make tea and a salad but what about her career?

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I agree with you. Did you see (in the CNN link) her before & after pics?
See was a beautiful young woman. No other punishment would ever have
made sure the guy wouldn't have done the same thing to another woman.

If it happened to me or to someone I love, I would feel the same way as the victim. For a minute. Then I would come to my senses and realize that the perpetrator should be punished but not in that way. There's got to be another way. I don't know what it is but "an eye for an eye" isn't it. What separates us from them if we commit the same act? This is just an awful crime and my opinion is not meant to minimize the victim's pain and suffering but violence begets violence. Punish him to the fullest extent of the law but do not become what he is.

Maybe they believe in the bible where it says "an eye for an eye"? I really don't know how I would feel if I was in her shoes...I certainly would want them to be punished , but how do you punish this act if not in the same way? Over here a jail sentence would be imposed and the guy would be released after serving a third of his sentence, to me that would be so unjust while that poor girl is trapped by blindness till her death. That's a sick person to have committed this kind of act so unless imprisonned for life I think he would do it again. Maybe being blinded will curtail him from repeating?

Good for her. In that area of the world women need to stand up like Ameneh Bahrami has.

Whereas I don't agree with hurting another person somehow I think something needs to change so the men in this part of the world realize they can't do that to women anymore. Having him sit some time in jail isn't going to magically change how he treats women as I am sure he was raised thinking that what he did was actually ok. This isn't the first time something like this has happened and Im sure it wont be the last unless something convinces people that this just isn't the right way to be. Conversely, this type of treatment of women has been a part of that particular culture for a very long time. I sincerly hope that there will be change but I'm not expecting much.

Throwing acid in the face of women is a large problem in Mid East Countries including India when men feel slighted or rejected. It isnt anything new there.

Im glad Bahrami has actualy gotten justice for what was done to her in a society where women are treated as nothing more the chattle.

"An eye for an eye ... makes the whole world blind."

- Mahatma Gandhi

You beat me to the quote. Still, something has to be done about the horrid treatment of women in places like that. I read a stat that 80% of women in Pakistan are abused by their husband or a male relative.

"An eye for an eye isn't that bad....That's why god gave you two of them bad boys......Carry On, and don't let that disability stop you!"
-me

IF she got the chance to put the shoes to that SOB and it saved another woman the hassle of getting abused, GO FOR IT.

Sometimes a bully needs to get a low blow to show the rest you can't be a jerk.

If this sentence is carried out - would it be done surgically?

It might be done with an anesthetic - though Islamic law might dictate otherwise. But the main point is he would be blind for the rest of his life.

Here is a short article, which also lists some of the other punishements under Islamic law:

http://www.iranfocus.com/en/human-ri...ent-17105.html

Quote:

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"An eye for an eye" - Iran to carry out gruesome
Tuesday, 03 February 2009

Iran Focus

ImageTehran, Iran, Feb. 03 – Iran's State Supreme Court upheld on Monday an earlier court ruling for a man to be blinded with acid as punishment for blinding a woman several years ago, state-run press reported on Tuesday.

The defendant, identified only by his first name Majid, 27, was in November sentenced by a court in Tehran to be blinded in both eyes, the official state daily "Iran" wrote.

Iranian state media had previously said that Majid was found guilty of blinding a woman identified as Ameneh Bahrami in 2004.

The State Supreme Court on Monday approved the sentence which involves 10 drops of sulphuric acid being administered into each of Majid's eyes.

The phrase "an eye for an eye" is very stringently adhered to in Iran's Islamic law.

Iran's Islamic penal system regularly practices centuries-old sentences for petty crimes, such as amputation of limbs, eye gouging, stoning to death, and throwing prisoners off a cliff in a sac.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by shepgirl

Maybe they believe in the bible where it says "an eye for an eye"? I really don't know how I would feel if I was in her shoes...I certainly would want them to be punished , but how do you punish this act if not in the same way? Over here a jail sentence would be imposed and the guy would be released after serving a third of his sentence, to me that would be so unjust while that poor girl is trapped by blindness till her death. That's a sick person to have committed this kind of act so unless imprisonned for life I think he would do it again. Maybe being blinded will curtail him from repeating?

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Besides being a punishment for the crime he commited against her, this
just might deter other men from doing the same thing to other women.

Women have very few rights at all in muslim countries & I'm glad she did
get justice in this case. Anybody remember the acid attacks on young
muslim girls on their way to classes ?

Sounds like justice being served to me.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/09030..._court_women_1


http://d.yimg.com/ca.yimg.com/p/0903...h7XCm8HR83AA--
Iranian Ameneh Bahrami poses in Barcelona holding a photograph of herself before she was blinded by a man who threw acid in her face. An Iranian woman living in Spain who was disfigured and blinded by a man in Iran said Thursday she welcomed a Tehran court ruling that awards her eye-for-eye justice against her assailant.
Photo:Lluis Gene/AFP

Thu Mar 5, 4:14 PM

MADRID (AFP) - An Iranian woman living in Spain who was disfigured and blinded by a man in Iran said Thursday she welcomed a Tehran court ruling that awards her eye-for-eye justice against her assailant.

"The person who did this deserves to go through the same suffering. Only this way will he understand my pain," Ameneh Bahrami told daily newspaper ABC.

"My intention is to ask for the application of the law not just for revenge but also so that no other woman will have to go through this. It is to set an example," the 30-year-old added.

In November an Iranian court ruled that the man -- identified only as Majid -- who admitted blinding Bahrami in 2004 by throwing acid in her face because she rejected his marriage request should also be blinded with acid based on the Islamic law system of "eye-for-an-eye" retribution.

Iran's supreme court confirmed the sentence at the beginning of February.

Bahrami, who moved to Barcelona after the attack to get medical treatment, said the court had originally ruled that she was entitled to have the man blinded in only one eye in Iran because "each man is worth two women".

"But I explained to the judge that with one eye one can still live," she told top-selling newspaper El Pais in another interview.

The court then ruled that the man would be blinded in both eyes if in exchange Bahrami agreed to give up the 20,000 euros (25,000 dollars) which she was set to receive from her assailant's family.

"He will be anesthetized and will not suffer pain. His face will not be disfigured because only a few drops (of acid) will be needed, he will not have the internal injuries which I had," she told ABC when asked if she felt she was less cruel than her aggressor.

"He did not have any compassion when he waited for me for hours outside of my workplace and threw the acid on me," she added.

Bahrami recovered 40 percent vision in her right eye but in 2007 she suffered an infection and became totally blind again.

She says she survives on a rent subsidy of 400 euros per month which she receives from the Spanish government and charity from friends.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Catty1

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/09030..._court_women_1


http://d.yimg.com/ca.yimg.com/p/0903...h7XCm8HR83AA--
Iranian Ameneh Bahrami poses in Barcelona holding a photograph of herself before she was blinded by a man who threw acid in her face. An Iranian woman living in Spain who was disfigured and blinded by a man in Iran said Thursday she welcomed a Tehran court ruling that awards her eye-for-eye justice against her assailant.
Photo:Lluis Gene/AFP

Thu Mar 5, 4:14 PM



MADRID (AFP) - An Iranian woman living in Spain who was disfigured and blinded by a man in Iran said Thursday she welcomed a Tehran court ruling that awards her eye-for-eye justice against her assailant.

"The person who did this deserves to go through the same suffering. Only this way will he understand my pain," Ameneh Bahrami told daily newspaper ABC.

"My intention is to ask for the application of the law not just for revenge but also so that no other woman will have to go through this. It is to set an example," the 30-year-old added.

In November an Iranian court ruled that the man -- identified only as Majid -- who admitted blinding Bahrami in 2004 by throwing acid in her face because she rejected his marriage request should also be blinded with acid based on the Islamic law system of "eye-for-an-eye" retribution.

Iran's supreme court confirmed the sentence at the beginning of February.

Bahrami, who moved to Barcelona after the attack to get medical treatment, said the court had originally ruled that she was entitled to have the man blinded in only one eye in Iran because "each man is worth two women".

"But I explained to the judge that with one eye one can still live," she told top-selling newspaper El Pais in another interview.

The court then ruled that the man would be blinded in both eyes if in exchange Bahrami agreed to give up the 20,000 euros (25,000 dollars) which she was set to receive from her assailant's family.

"He will be anesthetized and will not suffer pain. His face will not be disfigured because only a few drops (of acid) will be needed, he will not have the internal injuries which I had," she told ABC when asked if she felt she was less cruel than her aggressor.

"He did not have any compassion when he waited for me for hours outside of my workplace and threw the acid on me," she added.

Bahrami recovered 40 percent vision in her right eye but in 2007 she suffered an infection and became totally blind again.

She says she survives on a rent subsidy of 400 euros per month which she receives from the Spanish government and charity from friends.

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I know this is a legit story, but I question the photograph. The shot of the disfigured woman shows her with a blue eye, however the photo she is holding of "herself" clearly shows brown eyes. Just wondering.....:confused:

She suffered an infection in that eye and is totally blind. I truly believe that picture is legit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caseysmom

She suffered an infection in that eye and is totally blind. I truly believe that picture is legit.

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Well I hope someone wouldn't post a "doctored" photo just for the shock value. But other things don't look right to me either. The lips look to be in good condition compared to the rest of the face, and the hands and neck (too thick) don't look to be that of a woman. Maybe I'm just getting cynical in my old age, but I've learned to not necessarily believe everything I see.

It's still a tragic story no matter what the picture shows. :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pomtzu

Well I hope someone wouldn't post a "doctored" photo just for the shock value. But other things don't look right to me either. The lips look to be in good condition compared to the rest of the face, and the hands and neck (too thick) don't look to be that of a woman. Maybe I'm just getting cynical in my old age, but I've learned to not necessarily believe everything I see.

It's still a tragic story no matter what the picture shows. :(

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It is a prosthetic eye.

And she has had several surgeries on her face. I would expect the mouth to be one of the first - as she has to eat.