An Eye For An Eye

[Pedersen]

"One day soon, Ameneh Bahrami hopes Majid Mohavedi will be deliberately and slowly blinded. Sulphuric acid will be dropped into his eyes in a punishment mandated by a court in Tehran, Iran." -- Source: Financial Post

This is a horrific story. A woman (Ameneh Bahrami) spurned a man's advances. As punishment, he threw sulphuric acid in her face, blinding her and disfiguring her. She has since sued, and is getting the punishment she wishes: He will have sulphuric acid dropped into his own eyes, blinding him.

Literally, an eye for an eye.

I'm very torn on this issue. The perpetrator both deserves and needs to be punished. In many ways, this punishment is 100% appropriate. In some ways, it is even kind, since it sounds like he will be under general anaesthesia while the blinding takes place. He will not feel the pain, he will not watch his sight disappear. He will simply wake up and be unable to see.

In other ways, this is a horrific punishment. After all, a man will be blinded, his eyes absolutely destroyed by this. Until such time as we learn to grow and implant new body parts, there is no chance of anything being done to repair the damage to either of them. To quote Mahatma Gandhi: "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

And to further complicate the issue: This is, apparently, a notable problem in the Middle East. Women have this acid thrown onto their face as retribution or to control them. Ameneh's motivation (she says) is to try to make men stop doing this. According to her, she does not want revenge. She wants this to stop in general, and she feels this is a way to get the perpetrators to think twice about this, and hopefully prevent it.

As I said above, I'm torn. I can't decide if I believe this is a good thing or not. What do all of you think?

[Flyndaran]

It has nothing to do with justice, but equal revenge. It's simply sad that this is still a step forward for some backward violence ridden countries.

[Seshat]

And to further complicate the issue: This is, apparently, a notable problem in the Middle East. Women have this acid thrown onto their face as retribution or to control them. Ameneh's motivation (she says) is to try to make men stop doing this. According to her, she does not want revenge. She wants this to stop in general, and she feels this is a way to get the perpetrators to think twice about this, and hopefully prevent it.

From what I hear, there are still places in the world where a woman who is raped is punished for 'her adultry'. Or where a woman who is raped cannot be legally considered to be raped unless the rape was witnessed by a male third party.

And yes, Ameneh's situation is (I am told) not unusual either.

The amazing and GOOD part of this is that Ameneh actually has been treated as the victim in this case, and her attacker will be punished.

The method of punishment... ehhh, I'm pretty disgusted. But sometimes it does take something like this to change an injustice that's embedded deeply into a culture. If this one man's suffering prevents a thousand women from suffering what Ameneh did, maybe it's good on balance. Maybe not.

I suspect this is a 'there are no right answers' situation.

[Slytovhand]

How about this: "The newspapers have made this a huge case, but I haven't done anything bad."

Yeah... right! Given that sort of feeling towards what he's done, I don't have too great a problem with the punishment.

I tend to agree with her reasoning (and that of the lawyers) - yes, eventually this may just get a change of attitude - after all, isn't that what the whole idea of punishment about? To dissuade others from doing that in the future?

[tabbyblack13]

I have mixed opinions about this. The region that this is happening in also has a way for criminals to avoid jail is to pay retribution to the victim or the victim's surviving family. She refused the money even though she needs it to pay for all of the hospital bills.

Another issue is that this man still claims that he loves her and did this out of love for her. If he can see then he can attack her again. She might not survive the next encounter. Also I can see this as a deterrent to other men who might consider this type of attack. Of course there is a chance that it can backfire and violence against women will increase.

The only true good I see in this is least this woman has a say in what happens in the punishment even though other might not agree.

[BlaqueKatt]

It has nothing to do with justice, but equal revenge.

and actually this is not what "an eye for an eye" was originally intended-it was not vengeance based it was mitagatory. Meaning the punishment for taking an eye would not exceed the value of the eye(example:death as punishment for anything other than death)

However I find it interesting how people are horrified by this yet still think it's perfectly ok and some sick form of "justice" for offenders of any form to be raped in prison.

"The horrors experienced by many young inmates, particularly those who are convicted of nonviolent offenses, border on the unimaginable. Prison rape not only threatens the lives of those who fall prey to their aggressors, but it is potentially devastating to the human spirit. Shame, depression, and a shattering loss of self-esteem accompany the perpetual terror the victim thereafter must endure."

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Farmer v. Brennan

Just detention international

Remember 95% of these non-violent offenders are eventually released, most without HIV testing, and the spread of HIV amongst the inmate population is around 20% higher than in the outside population-and if they are tested in prison, if they contract HIV who do you think has to pay for their medical care? That's right-you the taxpayer does.

[crazylegs]

I cannot ever see how this is an appropriate punishment for any person, irrespective of the crime.

The crime itself is horrific, brutal and horifically violent, yet so is this punishment. There is no way I could ever say truthfully that I agree with it. I am of the opinion that reparations and internment would be suitable punishment, but never permenantly disabiling another out of spite. Because that's what this is, truthfully and honestly this is spite, it is revenge; there is no justification for this at all.

[DesignFox]

I'm torn on this issue. The decent human being...the "turn the other cheek" person inside me is screaming that this is a horrendous punishment.

But the angry part of me thinks this guy deserves what he's getting. Especially since his victim isn't demanding that acid be splashed over his face- merely that the acid be used to remove his eyesight.

*sigh* It's wrong. It's horribly wrong. I don't want to admit it, but it's an awful situation, and there isn't any good that can come from blinding this man.

I think the victim should take the money and finish her surgeries to try and repair the damage to her poor body and the assailant should rot in prison.

It's just ridiculous to hear that this "man" doesn't think he's done anything wrong. He really honestly has no remorse for his actions. Which is why a small part of me thinks that a blinding by acid may be the right punishment for *him*.

I'm really of two minds about this.

[Rapscallion]

It's the swinging of the pendulum.

For long enough, the power (the pendulum) has swung far over to the patriachal society so often noted in the region. I suspect this case - and the ones that will follow - will send the pendulum in the other direction and lead to a cultural revolution (it won't be overnight, more in terms of a decade or two). Attitudes will change, and then the new powers that arise from it will the ones reacted against.

Eventually, it will settle down to a happier medium (I hope). His blinding will help usher in a new era. It's not nice, but it's exactly what he felt he could do to another being. It will also make a whole generation of men realise that there are consequences to their actions.

Rapscallion

[Boozy]

According to her, she does not want revenge. She wants this to stop in general, and she feels this is a way to get the perpetrators to think twice about this, and hopefully prevent it.

My heart breaks for her, and I understand her desire to stop this from ever happening to another woman.

But if she truly wants the practice to stop, it needs to stop with her. A country that kills and maims criminals is a country that doesn't take killing and maiming seriously enough. All too easily does violence become a way of life in cultures that find reasons to perpetuate it, no matter how compelling those reasons may be.

[Rapscallion]

On the counter side, a country that doesn't do much (allows him to pay money to get away with it? wow...) about someone who perpetrates this sort of action isn't going to have effective change. A lack of meaningful reprisals will simply allow perpetuation.

I fully believe that this incident will spark a wave of similar, and this will (hopefully) turn the tide of accepting violence against women in that country. I don't relish the interim period, but I fully believe that cultures need to have that sort of thing happen to have balance.

Rapscallion

[Evandril]

Balance, by it's nature, is fair. Fair is *NOT* nice, kind, or anything of the sort. Is the punishment cruel in it's nature? Yes..and it is supposed to be a *punishment*. To show someone their actions will be met in kind will give people a *very* good reason to follow the golden rule...since now it'll be more OF a rule.

[fireheart17]

This sort of punishment though may bring up other questions though...is it OK to chemically castrate sex offenders? In a way, it is eye for an eye, but not in the literal sense.

[tropicsgoddess]

The punishment does fit the crime but the "I did it because I love her" deal is a cop out to me, although I do have to admit that the punishment itself is a bit on the harsh side.

[Evandril]

This sort of punishment though may bring up other questions though...is it OK to chemically castrate sex offenders? In a way, it is eye for an eye, but not in the literal sense.

Well, that's *not* an eye for an eye...but in the 'sex offender' catagory, an eye for an eye would get ugly FAST...though it would still be *fair*. What the person concidered appropriate behavior is being visited upon them.