Eye for an eye: Iran blinds man for chemical attack on girl

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian media says authorities have blinded a man to punish him for throwing chemicals in the face of a four-year-old girl in a 2009 assault that destroyed her vision.

The semi-official Fars news agency said Tuesday’s punishment was only the second time the Islamic Republic has implemented the “eye for an eye” legal provision, which was first approved in 1958. In March 2015 a man convicted of blinding another man in an acid attack was blinded in one eye in a prison near Tehran.

Iranian law allows for in-kind retribution, but encourages clemency. Victims and their families have the final say in such matters, and can prevent such punishments from being imposed.