Ameneh Bahrami was a happy girl working as an electrical technician for a medical equipment company in Iran. Many men sought her hand in marriage, but she said no to them because she wanted to marry only somebody she loved.
Till 2004 when one of her spurned suitors was upset with her attitude enough to pour a bucket of sulfuric acid over her head, leaving her blind and disfigured. It was only in November last year that the courts agreed with her demand for retribution by ordering the man be blinded according to Islamic law. An eye for an eye. So the Islamic principle states. The punishment was to be meted out by way of placing 5 drops of sulfuric acid on each eye. This has not been carried out yet.
A barbaric punishment?
You think so?
Amaneh Bahrani before acid attack
Ameneh Bahrami after acid attack
Take a look at photos of the woman. See how her life, her hopes for a bright future, have totally been destroyed. All because she did not want to marry somebody who demanded for her hand. This animal who deliberately scarred and blinded her for life, so nobody else could or would ever want her.
Sometimes we wonder whether the question is not whether the punishment was barbaric. It should be whether the punishment was enough.
And yet, to quote Mahatma Ghandi: ” An eye for an eye will make us all blind”