The deliberate blinding of a man who was convicted of pouring acid on another man's face causing him to go blind is a gruesome example of Iran's brutal justice system in action, said Amnesty International. 
 
 The man was forcibly blinded in his left eye on 3 March after being sentenced to “retribution-in-kind” (qesas) for throwing acid on the eyes of another man in the city of Qom in August 2009. The blinding of his right eye was postponed until a later date at his request. In addition to this punishment he was ordered to pay "blood money" (diyah) and sentenced to 10 years in prison. 
 
 Punishing someone by deliberately blinding them is an unspeakably cruel and shocking act. Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International's Iran Researcher 
 
 “Punishing someone by deliberately blinding them is an unspeakably cruel and shocking act," said Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International's Iran Researcher. 
 
 "This punishment exposes the utter brutality of Iran’s justice system and underlines the Iranian authorities' shocking disregard for basic humanity. Meting out cruel and inhuman retribution punishments is not justice. Blinding, like stoning, amputation and flogging, is a form of corporal punishment prohibited by international law. Such punishments should not be carried out under any circumstances.” 
 
 "The fact that in the weeks leading to their session before the UN Human Rights Council, the Iranian authorities have scheduled the execution of juvenile offender Saman Naseem, carried out the execution of six Sunni men after grossly unfair trials, transferred an ailing prisoner of conscience Atena Farghadani to solitary confinement, and now carried out this macabre punishment speaks volumes about the hollowness of Iran's rhetoric on reform and human rights." 
 
 The punishment of another Iranian man, who was sentenced to being blinded and made deaf in a similar "retribution-in-kind" punishment that was also due to be implemented on 3 March, has been postponed until next month. 
 
 Amnesty International is urging the Iranian authorities to immediately stop carrying out these cruel punishments and only implement sentences in line with international human rights law. They must also initiate public education campaigns aimed at preventing acts of violence including acid attacks, and ensure that survivors of such attacks are provided with effective remedies, including psycho-social and medical rehabilitation. 

 In a literal application of the sharia law of an eye for an eye, an Iranian man convicted of blinding another man in an acid attack has been blinded in one eye, marking the first time Iran has carried out such a punishment. 
 
 
 
 The convicted acid attacker, who has not been identified, was rendered unconscious in Rajai-Shahr prison in the city of Karaj on Tuesday as medics gouged out his left eye, according to the state-owned Hamshahri newspaper. 
 
 
 
 Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, from Iran Human Rights (IHR), an independent NGO based in Norway, condemned the blinding as barbaric. “Medical staff who cooperate with the Iranian authorities in this act have broken the Hippocratic oath and cannot call themselves doctors,” he said. 
 
 The man had been found guilty of throwing acid in the face of his unnamed victim five years ago in the city of Qom, blinding and disfiguring him for life. He was subsequently sentenced to be blinded in both eyes, paying a fine and 10 years imprisonment. 
 
 Although the convict was sentenced to lose sight in both eyes on Tuesday, the victim – who, under Iranian law, has the final say in the punishment – decided at the last minute to postpone the blinding of his right eye for six months. The attacker will be able to plead with the plaintiff to spare him from being blinded fully. 
 
 Acid attacks have been rife in Iran in recent years, usually driven by family feuds. Hamshahri reported that the man in this case had been hired by the relatives of his victim’s wife to take revenge on their behalf. It was not clear if he had carried out the attack for financial gain or whether he was related to the wife’s family. 
 
 
 
 Iranian officials, worried about the increase in the rate of acid attacks, have endorsed retribution, but human rights activists condemn it as inhumane. 
 
 Islam’s Sharia law allows for qisas (retribution) but it also advises clemency. Under Iranian law, victims or their families have the final say in such cases and can halt the punishment at any time. 
 
 Other acid attackers have also been sentenced to be blinded in Iran, but this is the first known case where the punishment has been carried out. In most previous cases doctors had refused to cooperate with the officials. 
 
 Raha Bahreini, a researcher with Amnesty International’s Iran team, said that punishing someone by deliberately blinding them is “an unspeakably cruel and shocking act”. 
 
 She told the Guardian: “Blinding is totally prohibited under international law, along with stoning, flogging, amputation and other forms of corporal punishment provided in Iran’s Islamic penal code and must not be carried out under any circumstances.” 
 
 Instead of meting out such macabre punishments, Bahreini said Iranian authorities “should raise awareness about violence including root causes, ensure that perpetrators of acid attacks are punished with appropriate and proportionate penalties consistent with international human rights norms, and survivors are provided with effective remedies, including compensation and psychosocial and medical rehabilitation.” 
 
 Another man, identified only as Hamid, was also scheduled to be blinded in Karaj on Tuesday, but his punishment was postponed at the request of his victim, Davoud Roshanaei. 
 
 “Hamid was about to be rendered unconscious on the bed when his father entered the room and asked me for more time,” said Roshanaei, who has been disfigured and lost sight in one eye as the result of the assault. “I gave them two more months to provide me with compensation for my treatment.” 
 
 In a highly publicised case in 2011, Ameneh Bahrami, a victim of an acid attack, received international praise after pardoning her attacker hours before surgeons prepared to blind the man with acid. Bahrami was disfigured and blinded in both eyes because she had repeatedly spurned her attacker’s offer for marriage. 
 
 Last year, a spate of acid attacks on young women in Iran’s top tourist destination, Isfahan, caused national horror and outrage. Activists claimed that unlike other cases across the country, victims in Isfahan had been targeted by hardliners for wearing clothes deemed inappropriate. The authorities have vehemently denied this charge.
– Some rough justice in Iran: Medics removed one eye from a unnamed man who blinded another man in an acid attack, reports the Guardian. And this was relatively lenient: Originally, both eyes were to be removed, but the victim (who was fully blinded) had a last-minute change of heart and asked the judge to spare his attacker's right eye, for now. The guilty man, who also is serving a 10-year sentence, now has six months to plead to keep it. While such sentences have been handed out previously under sharia law in Iran, this appears to the first time one has actually been carried out, notes the Guardian. The man was rendered unconscious before the procedure. “Punishing someone by deliberately blinding them is an unspeakably cruel and shocking act," says an Amnesty International official. "This punishment exposes the utter brutality of Iran’s justice system and underlines the Iranian authorities' shocking disregard for basic humanity." Another convicted acid attacker was supposed to have been blinded on the same day, but that victim, who has the final say under Iranian law, stopped it at the last moment. “I gave them two more months to provide me with compensation for my treatment.”