IRAN: AUTHORITIES CARRY OUT 'EYE FOR AN EYE' BLINDING PUNISHMENT

November 9, 2016: Official Iranian media, including ISNA, have reported on a blinding punishment sentence carried out on November 8 in one of the prisons near Tehran.
Iranian authorities blinded both of the eyes of a man from Qorveh (Kurdistan province), identified as "Mohammad Reza", for allegedly throwing lime into the face of his four-year-old niece in the Sanandaj region and blinding her.
Implementation of this Qisas (eye for an eye punishment) sentence occured on the eve of a new round of talks between the Iranian authorities and the European Union. The talks will take place in Brussels where the officials reportedly plan to discuss as part of their dialogue the situation of human rights in Iran.
Mohammad Shahriari, the head of the prosecutor's office at Tehran's criminal court, says this is the second blinding punishment sentence carried out in Iran since the passing of an article in Iran's acid attack punishment law which was adopted in 1958.
In 1958, the acid attack law did not include the eye for an eye punishment, which was introduced after the inception of the Islamic Republic.
The other blinding punishment sentence was carried out last year in March 2015. (Sources: Iran Human Rights, 09/11/2016)