11 December 2010

Man sentenced to be blinded with acid by Iranian court

IRAN'S supreme court has upheld a sentence of blinding with acid for a man who blinded his lover's husband, under the Islamic "eye-for-an-eye" justice code, a government daily said.

The convict, named only as Mojtaba, 25, threw acid in the face of Alireza, 25, a taxi driver in Iran's clerical hub city of Qom, after an "illicit affair" with the victim's wife, Mojdeh, also 25, said the newspaper Iran.

The supreme court has upheld a lower court ruling that Mojtaba be blinded with drops of acid, in line with Islamic justice, which allows for "qisas," or eye-for-an-eye retribution, in cases of violent crime, it said. Qom prosecutor Mostafa Barzegar Ganji said the victim had used his right to qisas.

"We have asked for forensic specialists to oversee the blinding of the convict," he said, quoted in Iran. [The Herald and Weekly Times] Read more [via Jihad Watch]