An Iranian woman who was disfigured and blinded in an acid attack in 2004 said Sunday that she stopped an "eye for an eye" punishment for her attacker at the last minute because "such revenge is not worth it," according to CNN.
Ameneh Bahrami had demanded qisas, a retributive form of justice under Sharia law that is rarely used, but a report said she gave up that right at the last minute, BBC News reported.
In 2008, a court supported Bahrami's demand that Majid Movahedi be blinded as punishment for attacking her and blinding her. Movahedi threw acid in Bahrami's face and blinded her when she rejected his offer of marriage seven years ago. She was disfigured and blinded in the attack.
A doctor was going to drop acid under legal supervision into Movahedi's eyes on Sunday, according to Fars News Agency, to punish him for the acid attack, CNN reported.
Bahrami halted the action only minutes before it was carried out, and Movahedi had been given an anesthetic, she said.
Global human rights groups had asked Bahrami, who had requested the eye for an eye justice in the court, to pardon her attacker, according to the Guardian.
The Guardian reported:
"I feel very good. I'm happy that I pardoned him," Isna quoted her as saying. "For seven years I've been trying to pursue retribution and to prove that the punishment for an acid attack is retribution but today I decided to pardon him. This was my right but in future the next victim might not do the same."
Bahrami asked instead for financial compensation on Sunday, an option she had been unwilling to consider before.
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