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• Ameneh Bahrami is an Iranian woman who is blind and disfigured from a sulfuric acid attack by a suitor she rejected. She invoked the sharia code of qisas, an Iranian law of eye-for-eye retribution in court.The Guardian: Eye for an eye: Iranian man sentenced... (November 28, 2008) In November, the court ruled that five drops of acid be placed in each of the attacker's eyes.The Washington Post: Iranian Woman Blinded by Spurned Man Invokes Retribution (December 13, 2008)

  The sentence has not yet been carried out. Majid Movahedi, the attacker, has 20 days to appeal the ruling. If he does not do so, a date will be set by the court.The Washington Post: Iranian Woman Blinded by Spurned Man Invokes Retribution (December 13, 2008)

• Fast Facts

  1. 31-year-old Iranian woman
  2. Left blind and disfigured by sulfuric acid attack
  3. Former university student of engineering
  4. Attacker was a turned-down suitor
  5. Attack occurred four years ago
  6. Attacker sentenced to have acid placed in his eyes
  7. Legal sentence under sharia code of quisas
  8. Sentence has not yet been carried out

• Details

  The attack occurred in 2004 when Bahrami was a university electronics student in Tehran. Bahrami and Movahedi met in 2002 when Bahrami and her friends collected clothes for him. In 2003 he asked for her hand in marriage. She declined.The Washington Post: Iranian Woman Blinded by Spurned Man Invokes Retribution (December 13, 2008)

  Movahedi began stalking her. He waited outside her workplace and followed her in the street. He threatened to kill himself if she didn't marry him. Bahrami approached the police, who said nothing could be done until something illegal had occurred. On October 31, 2004, Bahrami made up a story to Movahedi that she was engaged to someone else. Three days later he splashed acid onto her face while she was walking in a city park.The Washington Post: Iranian Woman Blinded by Spurned Man Invokes Retribution (December 13, 2008)

  Someone brought her water, which she splashed on her face, only to make the acid run down her body. She was taken to a hospital where they hosed her down with water. The hospital staff failed to wash her eyes out properly. Bahrami had 17 surgeries in six months. Iran's previous president, Mohammad Khatami, helped her pay for surgeries in Barcelona, Spain, to restore some of her vision. Barcelona doctors needed to perform multiple surgeries. In August 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became Iran's president and stopped funding Bahrami's medical bills. Surgery was suspended, and she returned to Iran in June 2006. Her right eye has since been lost completely.The Washington Post: Iranian Woman Blinded by Spurned Man Invokes Retribution (December 13, 2008)

• Quotes

  "At an age at which I should be putting on a wedding dress, I am asking for someone's eyes to be dripped with acid. I am doing that because I don't want this to happen to any other women." -- Ameneh BahramiTime Mobile: Ameneh Bahrami (December 2008)

  "The newspapers have made this a huge case, but I haven't done anything bad." -- Majid MovahediThe Washington Post: Iranian Woman Blinded by Spurned Man Invokes Retribution (December 13, 2008)

  "If Ameneh is really blind, the verdict against my son must be implemented." -- Aziz Movahedi Majid's fatherThe Washington Post: Iranian Woman Blinded by Spurned Man Invokes Retribution (December 13, 2008)

  "If propaganda is carried out on how acid attackers are punished, it will prevent such crimes in the future." -- Deputy attorney general of Tehran Mahmoud SalarkiaThe Washington Post: Iranian Woman Blinded by Spurned Man Invokes Retribution (December 13, 2008)

  "Social violence will not be cured with more violence." -- Iranian journalist Asieh AminiThe Washington Post: Iranian Woman Blinded by Spurned Man Invokes Retribution (December 13, 2008)

• Related Pages on Mahalo

  Iran | Afghan Schoolgirls Acid Attack | Ofelia Garcia | Mohammad Khatami |Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

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