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

"Iranian State Media: Man spared punishment of blinding by acid", CNN.com, July 31, 2011

Related articles:

Death Penalty News: Rights group urges Iran not to blind woman's ...

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 ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

iranian to be blinded with acid for doing same to woman

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 ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Comments

Florida executes Michael Tanzi

Florida on Tuesday executed a death row inmate described by one local detective as a "fledgling serial killer" for the murder of a beloved Miami Herald employee. Florida executed Michael Tanzi on Tuesday, 25 years after the murder of beloved Miami Herald employee Janet Acosta, who was attacked in broad daylight on her lunch break in 2000. Michael Tanzi, 48, was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford and pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. ET.

South Carolina executes Mikal Mahdi

Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers A man facing the death penalty for committing two murders was executed by firing squad on Friday, the second such execution in the US state of South Carolina this year. Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers, an off-duty police officer, and the murder of a convenience store employee three days earlier. According to a statement from the prison, "the execution was performed by a three-person firing squad at 6:01 pm (2201 GMT)," with Mahdi pronounced dead four minutes later.

Afghanistan | Four men publicly executed by Taliban with relatives of victims shooting them 'six or seven times' at sport stadium

Four men have been publicly executed by the Taliban, with relatives of their victims shooting them several times in front of spectators at a sport stadium. Two men were shot around six to seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the centre of Afghanistan's Badghis province, witnesses told an AFP journalist in the city. The men had been 'sentenced to retaliatory punishment' for shooting other men, after their cases were 'examined very precisely and repeatedly', the statement said. 'The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace but they refused.'

USA | Why the firing squad may be making a comeback

South Carolina plans to execute Mikal Mahdi on Friday for the murder of a police officer, draping a hood over his head and firing three bullets into his heart. The choice to die by firing squad – rather than lethal injection or the electric chair – was Mahdi’s own, his attorney said last month: “Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi has chosen the lesser of three evils.” If it proceeds, Mahdi’s execution would be the latest in a recent string of events that have put the spotlight on the firing squad as a handful of US death penalty states explore alternatives to lethal injection, by far the nation’s dominant execution method.

I spent 16 years in solitary in South Carolina. This is what it did to me. | Opinion

South Carolinian Randy Poindexter writes about the effects 16 years of solitary confinement had on him ahead of South Carolina’s planned execution of Mikal Mahdi , who spent months in solitary as a young man. For 16 years, I lived in a concrete cell. Twenty-three hours a day, every day, for more than 3,000 days, South Carolina kept me in solitary confinement. I was a young man before I was sent to solitary — angry, untreated and unwell. I made mistakes. But I wasn’t sentenced to madness. That’s what solitary did to me. My mental health worsened with each passing day. At first, paranoia and depression set in. Then, hallucinations and self-mutilation. I talked to people who weren’t there. I cut myself to feel something besides despair. I could do nothing as four of my friends and fellow prisoners took their own lives rather than endure another day of torturous isolation.

South Carolina | Man who ambushed off-duty cop to face firing squad in second execution of its kind

Mikal Mahdi, 48, who was found guilty of killing an off-duty police officer and a convenience store worker, is the second inmate scheduled to executed by South Carolina's new firing squad A murderer who ambushed and shot an off duty police officer eight times before burning his body in a killing spree is set to become the second person to die by firing squad. South Carolina's highest court has rejected the last major appeal from Mikal Mahdi, 41, who is to be put to death with three bullets to the heart at 6pm on April 11 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. Mahdi's lawyers said his original lawyers put on a shallow case trying to spare his life that didn't call on relatives, teachers or people who knew him and ignored the impact of weeks spent in solitary confinement in prison as a teen.

Louisiana | Lawyers of Jessie Hoffman speak about their final moments before execution

As Louisiana prepared its first execution in 15 years, a team of lawyers from Loyola Law were working to save Jessie Hoffman’s life. “I was a young lawyer three years out of law school, and Jessie was almost finished with his appeals at that time, and my boss told me we needed to file something for Jessie because he’s in danger of being executed,” Kappel said. Kappel and her boss came up with a civil lawsuit to file that said since they wouldn’t give him a protocol for his execution, he was being deprived of due process, and the lawsuit was in the legal process for the next 10 years.

Lethal Injection, Electric Chair, or Firing Squad? An Inhumane Decision for Death Row Prisoners

South Carolina resumed executions with the firing squad killing of Brad Sigmon last month. Mikal Madhi’s execution date is days away. The curtain shrieked as it was yanked open to reveal a 67-year-old man tied to a chair. His arms were pulled uncomfortably behind his back. The red bull’s-eye target on his chest rose and fell as he desperately attempted to still his breathing. The man, Brad Sigmon, smiled at his attorney, Bo King, seated in the front row before guards placed a black bag over his head. King said Sigmon appeared to be trying his best to put on a brave face for those who had come to bear witness.

Execution date set for prisoner transferred to Oklahoma to face death penalty

An inmate who was transferred to Oklahoma last month to face the death penalty now has an execution date. George John Hanson, also known as John Fitzgerald Hanson, is scheduled to die on June 12 for the 1999 murder of 77-year-old Mary Bowles. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday set the execution date. The state’s Pardon and Parole Board has a tentative date of May 7 for Hanson’s clemency hearing, executive director Tom Bates said.

Arizona | The cruelty of isolation: There’s nothing ‘humane’ about how we treat the condemned

On March 19, I served as a witness to the execution of a man named Aaron Gunches, Arizona’s first since 2022. During his time on death row, he begged for death and was ultimately granted what is likely more appropriately described as an emotionless state-assisted suicide. This experience has profoundly impacted me, leading to deep reflection on the nature of death, humanity, and the role we play in our final moments. When someone is in the end stages of life, we talk about hospice care, comfort, care, easing suffering and humane death. We strive for a “good death” — a peaceful transition. I’ve seen good ones, and I’ve seen bad, unplanned ones.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog