Skip to main content

Iranian Man’s Retribution Acid Blinding Punishment Set for Sunday, July 31, in Tehran

Iran Human Rights, July 30: According to reports from Iran, the blinding sentence of Majid Movahedi will be implemented in Tehran early Sunday morning. Acid is set to be dripped in both his eyes.

In November 2008, a court in the Iranian capital Tehran sentenced Majid Movahedi to “blindness in both eyes” by ten drops of sulfuric acid for splashing acid on Ameneh Bahrami’s face in 2004. She had allegedly spurned his marriage proposals. Ameneh Bahrami’s face became disfigured and she lost the sight in both eyes as a result of the injury. The sentence was approved by the Iranian Supreme Court in February 2009.

The sentence was scheduled to be implemented on May 14th but was postponed, probably due to the massive international attention the case received.

According to Alarabiya, Iranian authorities have decided to implement the verdict before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on August 1st. The news has also been confirmed on the Ameneh Bahrami Facebook page. It stated: “Ameneh’s retribution sentence will be implemented at 6:00am tomorrow.”

The sentence was approved by the Iranian Supreme Court in February 2009.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly condemned what he called a “barbaric and grotesque” punishment. He said, ”The international community must not let this barbaric punishment to happen.” He added, ”Leaders of the Iranian regime should be held responsible for the barbaric and grotesque punishment of dripping acid in Majid’s eyes. These types of sentences are only meant to spread fear among the people and will, without a doubt, promote even more violence in the Iranian society.”

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam has asked the assigned doctors to not take part in the barbaric act of retribution because, if they do, they will be breaking their professional oath.

Regarding the discriminatory laws against women in Iran, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said, “By being a woman, Ameneh is also a victim of the Iranian regime’s gender apartheid politics. Iranian authorities encourage violence against women. According to the Iranian laws, a woman who is not covered properly can be lashed up to 74 times, so the authorities are also responsible for the growing violence against women in the Iranian society, like Ameneh’s case.”

Background:

In 2004, Majid Movahedi was convicted of pouring acid on the face of Ameneh Bahrami, 27, a young woman he allegedly wished to marry.

As a result of the injuries, Ameneh Bahrami lost her sight in one eye and most of her sight in the other eye. She has been going through numerous surgical operations on her face and eyes to reverse the damage.

In 2008, a court in Tehran sentenced Majid Movahedi to Qesas (retribution, eye-for-an-eye). He was sentenced to lose the sight in both his eyes and to provide Ameneh Bahrami with economic compensation.

The Iranian Supreme Court approved the sentence in February 2009. According to the sentence issued by the court, ten drops of sulfuric acid will be dripped into each of Majid Movahedi’s eyes.

The punishment is set to take effect on the morning of July 31st.

Source: Iran Human Rights, July 30, 2011 - [فارسى]

Acid blinding sentence of the man who attacked with acid to be carried out tomorrow

Majid Movahed, the defendant in the acid attack case, has been transferred from the Rjaei Shahr Prison to the central investigation unit of the Police Station.

The Prosecutor has informed Majid Movahed’s lawyer that his sentence has to be carried out before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. One more day is left until the sentenec is carried out.

According to the Human Rights House of Iran, the sentenec is to be carried out tomorrow at 6 am and the man is to be blinded in both eyes.

Movahed had thrown a jar of acid in the face of Ameneh Bahrami after she refused his marriage proposal. She lost both her eyes in the incident.

Recently, Parliament member Soleiman Zaker had said that “blinding with acid is is the application of the sharia’s “eye for an eye” laws.” He had added that “delay in the execution of the sentence and the ignorance of victims and their families has led to more acid attacks.”

He had requested that the victims of acid attacks should not ignore the Qisas sentence.

Ameneh Bahrami has retuned to Iran last week in order to carry out the sentence.

Persian Article: http://www.rahana.org/archives/42927

Source: rahana, July 30, 2011


Jul 31, 2011 UPDATE


Related articles:
May 14, 2011
"Regardless of how horrific the crime suffered by Ameneh Bahrami, being blinded with acid is a cruel and inhuman punishment amounting to torture, and the Iranian authorities have a responsibility under international law ...
Dec 15, 2008
ameneh bahrami refused to accept "blood money." she insisted instead that her attacker suffer a fate similar to her own "so people like him would realize they do not have the right to throw acid in girls' faces," she told the tehran ...

Comments

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

'No Warning': The Death Penalty In Japan

Stakes for wrongful convictions are high in Japan, where the death penalty has broad public support despite criticism over how it is carried out. Tokyo: Capital punishment in Japan is under scrutiny again after the world's longest-serving death row prisoner, Iwao Hakamada, was awarded $1.4 million in compensation this week following his acquittal last year in a retrial. Stakes for wrongful convictions are high in Japan, where the death penalty has broad public support despite international criticism over how it is carried out.

South Carolina | Spiritual adviser of condemned inmate: 'We're more than the worst thing we've done'

(RNS) — When 67-year-old Brad Sigmon was put to death on March 7 in South Carolina for the murder of his then-girlfriend's parents, it was the first time in 15 years that an execution in the United States had been carried out by a firing squad. United Methodist minister Hillary Taylor, Sigmon's spiritual adviser since 2020, said the multifaceted, months long effort to save Sigmon's life, and to provide emotional and spiritual support for his legal team, and the aftermath of his execution has been a "whirlwind" said Taylor, the director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Louisiana's First Nitrogen Execution Reflects Broader Method Shift

Facing imminent execution by lethal gas earlier this week, Jessie Hoffman Jr. — a Louisiana man convicted of abducting, raping and murdering a 28-year-old woman in 1996 — went to court with a request: Please allow me to be shot instead. In a petition filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on March 16 seeking a stay of his execution by nitrogen hypoxia, a protocol that had yet to be tested in the state, Hoffman requested execution by firing squad as an alternative.

A second South Carolina death row inmate chooses execution by firing squad

Columbia, S.C. — A South Carolina death row inmate on Friday chose execution by firing squad, just five weeks after the state carried out its first death by bullets. Mikal Mahdi, who pleaded guilty to murder for killing a police officer in 2004, is scheduled to be executed April 11. Mahdi, 41, had the choice of dying by firing squad, lethal injection or the electric chair. He will be the first inmate to be executed in the state since Brad Sigmon chose to be shot to death on March 7. A doctor pronounced Sigmon dead less than three minutes after three bullets tore into his heart.

Bangladesh | Botswana Woman Executed for Drug Trafficking

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Lesedi Molapisi, a Botswana national convicted of drug trafficking, was executed in Bangladesh on Friday, 21 March 2025. The 31-year-old was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail after exhausting all legal avenues to appeal her death sentence. Molapisi was arrested in January 2023 upon arrival at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, where customs officials discovered 3.1 kilograms of heroin hidden in her luggage. Following a trial under Bangladesh’s Narcotics Control Act, she was sentenced to death in May 2024. Her execution was initially delayed due to political unrest in the country but was carried out last week.

USA | Federal death penalty possible for Mexican cartel boss behind 1985 DEA agent killing

Rafael Caro Quintero, extradited from Mexico in 2022, appeared in Brooklyn court as feds weigh capital charges for the torture and murder of Agent Enrique Camarena NEW YORK — The death penalty is on the table for notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, the so-called “narco of narcos” who orchestrated the torture and murder of a DEA agent in 1985, according to federal prosecutors. “It is a possibility. The decision has not yet been made, but it is going through the process,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Saritha Komatireddy said in Brooklyn Federal Court Wednesday.

Oklahoma executes Wendell Grissom

Grissom used some of his last words on Earth to apologize to everyone he hurt and said that he prays they can find forgiveness for their own sake. As for his execution, he said it was a mercy. Oklahoma executed Wendell Arden Grissom on Thursday for the murder of 23-year-old Amber Matthews in front of her best friend’s two young daughters in 2005.  Grissom, 56, was executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. local time, becoming the first inmate to be put to death by the state in 2025 and the ninth in the United States this year. 

Inside Florida's Death Row: A dark cloud over the Sunshine State

Florida's death penalty system has faced numerous criticisms and controversies over the years - from execution methods to the treatment of Death Row inmates The Sunshine State remains steadfast in its enforcement of capital punishment, upholding a complex system that has developed since its reinstatement in 1976. Florida's contemporary death penalty era kicked off in 1972 following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Furman v. Georgia , which temporarily put a stop to executions across the country. Swiftly amending its laws, Florida saw the Supreme Court affirm the constitutionality of the death penalty in 1976's Gregg v. Georgia case.

Louisiana executes Jessie Hoffman Jr.

Louisiana used nitrogen gas Tuesday evening to execute a man convicted of murdering a woman in 1996, the 1st time the state has used the method, a lawyer for the condemned man said.  Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, was put to death at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, defense lawyer Cecelia Kappel said in a statement. He was the 1st person executed in the state in 15 years, and his death marked the 5th use of the nitrogen gas method in the US, with all the rest in Alabama.  Hoffman was convicted of the murder of Mary "Molly" Elliott, a 28-year-old advertising executive. At the time of the crime, Hoffman was 18.

564 People On Death Row In India, Highest Since The Turn Of The Century

In 90% of of all death penalty sentences in 2024, trial courts imposed sentences in the absence of adequate information about the accused, finds a recent report Bengaluru: Following the uproar and the widespread protests after the August 2024 rape and murder of a medical professional in Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital, there were demands for death penalty for the accused. The state government passed the Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill 2024 (awaiting presidential assent) which included mandatory death sentence for rape which results in death of the victim or if the victim is left in a vegetative state, despite such a mandatory sentence being unconstitutional.