A while ago, a Saudi Arabian court enlisted the help of doctors to find out whether severing the spinal cord of a convicted criminal (as punishment for his crime) would result in his death. The punishment was proposed, after the man was found guilty of paralysing a man after attacking him with a cleaver. An eye-for-an-eye punishment deemed barbaric by many.
Now, in Iran, a similar punishment, though not as severe, has been ordered. A man who was found guilty of blinding and burning the ear of another man in an acid attack has been ordered to lose an eye and his ear. Authorities still haven’t said how he will be punished, by surgery or by acid.
A similar sentence in 2009 was handed down to a man who blinded a woman who denied his marriage proposal. Al Jazeera reports that it is unknown whether that sentence was carried out.
The eye-for-an-eye punishment is written into Islamic Sharia law, however is interpreted in many different ways, usually on a case-by-case basis. In this case, the interpretation seems to be quite literal.
Click here to read about other instances of capital punishment in Iran.
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