An Eye for an Eye in Iran
It is well-known internationally that Iran has a draconian legal system that lags behind the rest of the world in current human rights standards. Punishment for some crimes includes, “amputation of limbs, eye gouging, stoning to death, and throwing prisoners off a cliff in a sac,” noted an article on Iranfocus.com. The combination Islamic law and the biblical philosophy of “an eye for an eye” combine to form a punitive system that can seem appalling to outsiders. On the 27th of November, a 27-year-old man identified only as Majid “was sentenced by the court to be blinded in both eyes” for his crime of blinding a woman in 2004. The principle of “an eye for an eye” is adhered to very strictly in Iran’s Islamic system and in this case the concept was taken quite literally. Such actions by the Iranian judicial system further call into question Iran’s regard for human rights and humane treatment.
Steven Craig
