When Ameneh Bahrami rejected Majid Movahedi's marriage proposal, he threw a jar of acid in her face. Blinded and horribly disfigured, she sought retribution for seven years and finally the eye for an eye pay-back date arrived. The court had ruled in her favour - that she could have a doctor pour a few drops of acid into one of Movahedi's eyes based on the Islamic law of "gisas" or eye-for-an-eye retribution. Although he had blinded her in both eyes, she was only entitled to blind him in one.
In a hospital operating room her attacker waited but as a doctor was about to put several drops of acid into one of his eyes, she called it off and forgave him. The whole dramatic scene was broadcast on Iran’s state television.
Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said Movahedi would remain in jail until a court decides on an alternative punishment and said Bahrami has sought financial compensation from her attacker for the cost of treating her injuries.
Bahrami said that international attention to her case was also a factor in her decision to pardon him. She said "It seemed like the entire world was waiting to see what would happen". Amnesty International had urged Bahrami to pardon him but are appalled that a member of the medical profession would deliberately blind another in the name of the law.
Bahrami, who has an electronics degree and worked in a medical engineering company before the attack, moved to Spain with the help of the Iranian government where she has undergone a series of unsuccessful operations. She has recently published a book in Germany Eye for an Eye, based on her personal life and her suffering since she was blinded.
There have been several other acid attacks of women in Iran. Last week, a young woman died when a man poured acid on her face after she rejected his marriage proposal. As yet, her attacker has still not been found.
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