Iranian court sentences man to be blinded by acid

[emad]

Source: AP

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian newspapers say a court has sentenced a man who blinded a woman with acid also to be blinded with acid under the country's Islamic law.

Thursday's reports in several newspapers, including the Kargozaran, say 27-year-old Majid confessed to attacking Ameneh Bahrami in 2004 to dissuade anyone from marrying the woman he loved.

Wednesday's ruling was issued based on the Islamic law system of "qisas," or eye for an eye retribution.

The reports say Ameneh asked the court to sentence Majid, who was only identified by his first name, to be blinded by acid to prevent similar attacks on other women


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gTQQg3YtZGuCap9y1SmGB4TukJwAD94N8PEG0

[alphafemale]

1. An eye for an eye will mean that eventually we will all be blind. nt

[ohio2007]

8. lol, only those who can't see will be spared under the "law" nt

[Richd506]

20. I love that quote

It really sums up the notion that justice can sometimes be unjust. Nuclear weapons are the extreme example of it. It doesn't matter who started it, everyone pays.

[HopeHoops]

21. There's an old bumper sticker: "Nuclear war will never determine who is right, just who is left."

[ooglymoogly]

31. or who is dead. nt

[Posteritatis]

51. They aren't left, right? (nt)

[ooglymoogly]

53. Just commenting on the power of words...

Left has a ring of optimism...dead is the opposite. No offense meant by my comment...just another way of saying the same thing. Saying the same thing twice but in a different way gives an extra weight to the comment which was a good comment.

[alphafemale]

22. I can't remember where it's from, though. Do you?

Seems like it was in a movie...maybe. :shrug:

[ooglymoogly]

30. Mahatma Gandhi coined, "an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind"

an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is from the Jewish testament and is from the much earlier code of Hammurabi upon which the emperor Justinian expanded and upon which most law is based.

[ooglymoogly]

He might have added a tooth for a tooth will make the whole

world toothless. Maybe that is what has happened and is why our government is blind brainless and toothless.

[alphafemale]

33. You're right. It is Ghandi but I think it was used in a movie as well.

I'm just having a mental snag right now.

[Joe Chi Minh]

34. It will also mean that no more women will be permanently blinded by acid and their faces disfigured,

while the perpetrator serves a sentence of no more than a few years. It's happened in Scotland.

[alphafemale]

37. Really? Living under Islamic Law protects women from acid attacks?

...and assault and rape?

Well...sign me up!!!!!

//sarcasm//

[happyslug]

40. Under the Shiite ruling, yes it does.

Remember, the woman WHO WAS BLINDED BY ACID, was demanding, and the Court granted her request, that what he did to her, but done to him. Now Islam has an exception, he can pay her off (i.e. come up with a monetary alternative that is acceptable to the victim), but apparently he (and more importantly his family) does not want to pay her for the damage he had done.

How else do you PREVENT acid attacks except if the Society not only call it evil, but treats it as evil. That is what the victim is demanding here and the court is giving it to her. Thus any body who hears of this case knows one thing, the Shiite Courts of Iran will NOT tolerate such acts.

[Joe Chi Minh]

46. The significant effect of really deterrent sanctions by the State is not a thing that some people

want to understand.

[alphafemale]

49. Let's all welcome the Taliban then.

Like Hell

[Joe Chi Minh]

52. I don't think that would be wise on any score. But I'm delighted to

see you broadening your sympathies.

[LeftishBrit]

81. Barbarism by the state has lots of significant effects .Many of them most undesirable.

Would you also support chopping off the hands of thieves? Or for that matter a return to the hangings and floggings of early 20th century Britain - or one could go back a further 100 years and hang people for stealing horses and sheep, etc.?

Which is worse:

To have a few criminals possibly go free for uncivilized and violent actions because the State as a whole is civilized?

Or to live in an uncivilized, violent State?

[Joe Chi Minh]

45. Centuries ago, when the Vatican City introduced or re-introduced the death

penalty, the criminal anarchy that had beset the place was dramatically reduced in a very short space of time. It is human nature (in relation to people), for people with an IQ above, say 30, to weigh the possible consequences of their personal actions.

I made no mention of rape or assault, although I would consider rape on a par with such acid attacks. But it's obvious that there are many people who want to make everything about Islamic law, instead of addressing an individual case, when brought to their attention.

You should read C S Lewis's autobiography, Surprised by Joy. He mentions the sorry state of people, he overheard in a conversation, as they discussed the Nazi concentration camps, being evidently incapable of outrage at such heinous behaviour by purported human beings. Or is your outrage more selective, confined to what might be more likely to affect to you, personally?

[atimetocome]

72. And thank the lord that many countries have become more civilized and

have abolished the death penalty.

[LeftishBrit]

82. So would you like to go back to that time?

I'm not making this about Islamic law specifically; I'm making this about state barbarism. Which exists in many places, not just Islamic countries (see Amnesty International's files on many countries). And ended comparatively recently even in those countries which now practice relatively civilized legal codes.

I do not want to live in a state that kills and tortures. And I certainly don't want our country to lose its hard-won decencies and turn back into a killing, torturing state.

[marshall]

67. I didn't know women's eyes were considered equal to men's eyes

Doesn't it take two women to testify in court to refute the testimony of one man
If he blinded both of her eyes I'm surprised the court didn't sentence him to only have one eye blinded.
So I do see this as a step in the right direction, as macabre as it may be to our western sensibilitites. It denotes that the woman's sight is as valuable as the man's.

[LeftishBrit]

79. Would you really rather live under the Iranian laws than the British laws?

I think such actions deserve more than just a few years in prison, but I don't feel that *I* deserve to become a torturer-by-proxy, with my state torturing in my name.

And once the state becomes violent - they are soon violent toward the innocent as well as the guilty.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

97. OK, you go live in Iran, I go live in Scotland. Deal? -nt

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Literally, Islamic version of "an eye for an eye".

[slackmaster]

3. Their relentless pursuit of justice breaks down in rape cases

The punishment for rape is stoning the victim to death for adultery.

[dipsydoodle]

32. Thought it might have been

death by adultery - the mind boggles.

[slackmaster]

36. You're thinking of "Death by Cheechee", I believe

Oldie but goodie.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. IRAN is a barbaric country because the U.S. manipulated it till they put in an extremist Islamic gov

Why can't the U.S. keep its filthy paws off countries when they have relative equality for women? The U.S. did the same f*cking thing in Iraq. Iraq's women wore western clothes, studied at universities, traveled, and were free to live independently if they chose. NOW? Now Iraq is turning into another f*cking extremist Islamic nation like Iran.

I'm SO SO SO SO sick of the U.S. having its disgusting nose in everyone else's business. The U.S. has the Midas touch in reverse. Everything it touches, it f*cks up.

[JonQ]

57. I don't think we can get all the credit for this

our actions may have given encouragement to some of their radicals, but the radicals had to exist (and have supporters) to begin with or nothing would have come of it.

Any Iranian who supports their government bears the blame for what these monsters are doing. And I hope the majority, who from what I've seen don't support this, start acting up.

[ohio2007]

64. Are you saying France made the theocracy possible

by giving the top Imam sanctuary from the Shah ?
interesting
Now France sends a message to Barack;

http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLN54394020081123

For the mullahs, it was one man,one vote, one time.
all the rest is window dressing

[JonQ]

66. I didn't mention france at all

I think the Iranians should shoulder most of the blame for allowing their country to take this route.

[Amonester]

86. Kouchner is a stupid right wing a-hole.

Just like Sarkozy...

[michreject]

71. Can't blame that on the US

That shit was going on before we were discovered.

[Freddie Stubbs]

94. That was almost 30 years ago

How long until the Iranian people rise up and overthrow the Islamic regime? Or are they too stupid and backward to do so?

[Ian David]

5. Wouldn't it be ironic (and sad) if after they blind him, the woman decides to marry him after all?nt

[LisaL]

11. So he is convicted for throwing acid in her face, and you think

she might decide to marry him? Boggles my mind.
:eyes:

[Ian David]

12. I don't think she either might nor that she should. But it would be some freaky Twilight Zone shit.

[LisaL]

14. WTF would such an idea even pop into your head?

Whatever on Earth make you thing such a thing is possible?
Somehow I doubt this woman likes this man, considering she has been disfigured, blinded, and is asking for his eyes to be destroyed with acid.

[Ian David]

16. Because there's a Twilight Zone marathon every year? n/t

[LisaL]

18. And you've watched too much of it.

[mitchum]

27. It happens; see the recent documentary "Crazy Love"

[shanti]

29. yes, burt and linda pugach

her former fiance blinded her, but she ended up marrying him. very bizarre.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/fashion/27linda.html

[ohio2007]

15. but what if he is innocent ? just because a sharia court of law finds him guilty

doesn't mean he actually did it

:sarcasm:

And yet the story of the Afghan school girls being blinded by acid got fewer replies.

go figger

justice is blind

[mitchum]

26. It happens; see the recent documentary "Crazy Love"

[LisaL]

61. I don't care what happens.

The woman asked for this man's eyes to be destroyed by acid, after he disfigured and blinded her. WTF would anyone think about marriage between the two?
Hello?

[mitchum]

63. Because people are fucking crazy?

[ohio2007]

13. she would be stoned to death for.....thats right

[Dorian Gray]

50. What makes you think

she would choose to marry him?

That's ridiculous.

[scytherius]

6. Religion EVERYWHERE of all kinds should be banished from the face ot the earth. nt

nt

[kestrel91316]

23. WRONG. Evil behavior should be banished. Religious beliefs,

like all beliefs, are a matter of personal conscience. Freedom of assembly permits gathering for religious purposes.

It's how one ACTS on one's religious (or political) beliefs that must be regulated, and punished if need be.

And I say this as an agnostic who practices NO religion and attends NO church.

[scytherius]

28. I used to believe that

and I do agree with you that whatever you believe is personal . . . but tolerance or Religion has never, ever brought anything good to the world. Century in and century out millions die and suffer over mythology.

I used to tolerate religion, but no more.

[GirlinContempt]

39. People don't die or suffer because of religion or mythology.

They die or suffer because of other people.

There have been heinous crimes and genocides committed by people that have nothing to do with religion. They have to do with the person or people who would commit that act. Take away religion and the very people who would kill for religion will kill for something else.

Blaming religion is a dishonest way of pretending that this is not humanity, that this is some outside force. Why not ban technology? Or maybe we should be banning books? I mean, technology has allowed us to kill people faster, more efficiently and in greater numbers. Ban it man, ban it. Books are dangerous, they can spread nasty ideas all over the place and encourage people to do horrible things. Get rid of them!

This isn't about bringing good or bad in to the world. Human beings are capable of doing heinous, despicable things, and the people that do them will do them no matter what reason you cloak it in. Blaming religion is lazy and ineffective. Unless you're trying to rile people up with unsubstantiated claims and histrionics. If so, very effective.

[PurityOfEssence]

48. Religion is the big excuse

Religion may not be holding up the bank, but monks provided the guns, there's a priest behind the wheel of the getaway car, and there are Deacons posted at the corners keeping an eye on things.

Religion gives people permission to do heinous things. Religion demands to be above reason or reproach. It's the iron stove in the wooden building of civilization: yes, it can keep some of us warm, but if not constantly tended, it can burn the place to the ground. The problem is that it demands to not have to be tended.

Those who demand that religion is "good" and should not be held responsible for its evils miss the point entirely. Religions are created by people for their own joy and to subjugate others. There are no other reasons. The very heart and soul of religions is the desire to duck responsibility.

Hitler was a Christian; never forget that. Of course, hardcore religion-enablers would say he wasn't a "real" one, and thus absolve themselves, as if they really know what was in his heart, but they're granting themselves special status. This is another problem: the aristocracy of belief which many of belief use to justify putting themselves as above the laws of the inferior. Religion is inherently anti-democratic, and vehemently demands the right to not play fair.

Those who would cite all of the good done in the name of god but not accept responsibility for the evil are sociopathic, extremely selfish and deeply immature. Believe if you must, but it's not a virtue.

[GirlinContempt]

55. rofl

Wow, you didn't actually understand what I wrote, and you're way off base.

You really want to drag Hitler in to this? Really and truly? You have to go there?

I mean, we can all play that game. Stalin, Mao Zedong and Pol Pot were all atheists. Neener neener. Get real. "Religion demands to be above reason or reproach." That's just insane. Religion can't demand anything.

You miss the point entirely. I'm not even religious, so don't try to keep working that angle. You are blaming a concept for the actions of people. It's called responsibility. Take some, everyone, there is enough to go around. This kind of crap is just more hate and prejudice, and it's completely unproductive and and gross.

"religion-enablers"? If I could roll my eyes in a more extreme fashion than I am right now, I would, but it's not physically possible. Your whole post is just dripping with hateful, nasty sentiments. To follow your lead, any one who could use the excuse of attacking religion to be so nasty to others they've never even met are evil, sociopathic, extremely selfish and deeply immature.

[PurityOfEssence]

58. It's dangerous stuff

Sorry if that doesn't sit well with you. The distaste I have for religion truly emanates from what I've posted, and I stand by it. Religion is dangerous: it gets people to believe things without proof, it gets them to believe in magic and the supernatural to such a degree that these worldviews are more important than actual reality, and it makes them feel "special" and entitled to do ruinous things.

Seen any agnostic suicide bombers recently?

Yes, you're morally better than I am and your pristine beauty is a beacon to us all, but please stop denying the convenient justifications that religions provide. Clouding the issue is just the obfuscation of vanity. There are real reasons to fear religion, and your outlash was slathered in self-aggrandizing ridicule and belittling of others who don't subscribe to your flowery view of religion as somehow superfluous and inconsequential in human activity. Please don't feign victimhood after throwing serious rocks yourself; it's most unbecoming. Your peevish pique makes MY arrogance pale in comparison, and that's quite an impressive feat.

To what degree I suck as an organism is really not the issue here; the issue here is your claim that it's all about the failing of humans, not religion. This is precisely the same logic that is used against gun control: people are the ones that kill people. There's a BIG HUGE FUCKING FLAW IN YOUR "logic" here, though: if people didn't have a certainty in an afterlife and a big daddygod from whom they seek approval, they wouldn't do much of the killing they do in these endless sectarian bloodbaths. There would be NO MOTIVE, and hence probably no crimes. Take away a gun from an asshole, and he/she will probably still find a way to hurt others, but take away the blanket approval of fantasy fairytale lands of eternal joy and candy, and there WILL be a bit less killing because people will probably see the sanctity of LIFE.

No, this isn't some strawman argument; you haven't said anything against or for gun control, and I'm not putting words in your mouth. It's an analogy about means.

Hitler used religion to get and to hold power. National Socialism wasn't a religious movement, per se, but it USED religion for its ends. That's the salient point here: its a very handy tool to do evil. That's why I brought it up, and it should be done repeatedly: without Catholic paramilitary organizations and wealthy industrialists, there would have been no Third Reich, and those who duck responsibility do none of us any favors. There's a sick underlying reality there, too: religion was scared of atheist leftism and was deathly afraid of losing power. In that sense, Nazism WAS a religious movement: fear of atheist pluralism that would question not only religion itself but the sacred privilege of the monied elites.

Sadly, though, the danger of religion isn't just that it's a handy excuse for mayhem, the precepts of certainty in the supernatural CAUSE people to do dangerous things.

The point that I and others are making is that religion is a handy justification for all sorts of ills. I wouldn't ban or restrict religions even if I could, but I would like to chip away at the sanctimonious horse shit that keeps reinforcing the idea that shutting off an admission of uncertainty and headlong flight from thinking is somehow "good". Its effects, for the most part, aren't.

I'm not talking about spirituality or anything of the sort, I'm talking about codified religious belief systems, which are political organizations by definition. Religion allows us to accept the unacceptable, and it's used by bad people and fucked-up people alike in wreaking all sorts of havoc. A typical approach of religion is to place itself above reproach, and that is deeply anti-democratic: it makes it an aristocracy.

[GirlinContempt]

69. Oh stop spanking in the mirror

At this point, you're just making shit up.

Be HONEST with yourself and admit that you're reaching to try and make me sound like someone I'm not.

It boils down to this:
People ARE responsible for what they do, and people use all sorts of justifications for what they do. They use politics, religion, history, personal trauma, etc. Religion does not force anyone to do anything, and we can see that people who are not religious also commit atrocities. People justify what they do with their religion even if their religion is completely against their actions.

It's about people. And it can be used as a reason, just like everything else. I mean, you're arguing that a bunch of atheists used religion to commit horrible acts? First, explain. Second, you don't see how this really ties in to the idea of, well, people doing terrible things?

You replied to a post I made, which did not insult you, or belittle anyone, I didn't present a 'flowery' view of religion (there was no mention of flowers, for one, or assuming you mean I made it sound all great, I didn't do that either). You jumped in with a bunch of insulting crap, bringing up HITLER and claim all religious people need to accept responsibility for things done by other people in the name of a concept (RELIGION) or they are "sociopathic, extremely selfish and deeply immature", amongst other things. Don't try to pull this "Oh lah de dah you're just being mean and you're so much better than me" crap. If you can't take someone disagreeing with you and seeing through your seething crap, don't post it on the internet.

"To what degree I suck as an organism is really not the issue here" Then stop making it the issue, and stop talking about how much everyone else sucks. Great whine fest, but the fact of the matter is, people do terrible things for many reasons. There is nothing in religion that forces them to do these things. Or, in any of the other sets of beliefs or ideals that they claim are behind their actions. Your claim about the afterlife is not a flaw in my argument. Many religions do not have a belief in the afterlife. And many religious people have gone to war, and to certain death, for reasons other than religion and the belief of attaining heaven, paradise, whatever. Don't get yourself stuck in the mindfuck that all religion = Christianity. Or that a handful of Christians = Christianity.

It's disingenuous to ignore any good that religion does (more correctly, religious people) and only cite the bad. I've done neither, thank you very much. I'm a firm believer that no matter what the religion, people are able to make choices. People do every day. Dancing around blaming religion will not change the fact that religious people don't do terrible things, and non religious people do terrible things. It wont change the fact that you have a choice as to what you do, how you live your life, etc.

If you want to talk about clouding the issue, go back and re-read what you're saying. What it says to me is that you really have a hate on for Christianity, which is perfectly fine for you to do, but don't present it as a reasonable argument that religion is the reason people kill each other.

[Dorian Gray]

101. You are right

without any religion in this world, the whole human race would have no desire to consolidate power, we'd all be holding hands and singing kumbaya, and war would never have existed.

[JNelson6563]

62. religion is a tool

like the other things you cite. Sadly, unlike books and technology, religion does not encourage to expand horizons.

I don't think religion should be banned but I would be glad to see the day when humans evolve to the point where magical thinking is left behind.

Julie

[totodeinhere]

38. Absolutely not.

Freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion is one of our most cherished freedoms.

[stillcool]

42. I don't think it's religion...

I think it is people. Human nature. I think of all the things..especially the 'news' that people accept as articles of faith in this country. They believe, because they want to believe. The media/governments power in creating reality is really amazing, and instances like the one expressed in this article, whether true or not, is such a wonderful tool to keep society docile. It also helps to cement the image of the 'evil-doers'. I wonder what kind of articles the people of Iran read about the U.S. There sure are plenty of instances that could cement the negative image of who and what we are, and just as easily proclaim the basis is Christianity.

[Lionel Mandrake]

60. Banish religion?

That will never happen. And it wouldn't do any good if it did happen. But there are alternatives to banishment.

1. Poke fun at religion.

2. Treat religion as a form of mental illness; study its etiology, symptoms, & prognosis; look for ways to prevent it or cure it.

[Pavulon]

7. Acid blinding (graphic), fuck him

life behind bars.

[The Maestro]

9. Ouch!!

Looks like some of our lock-em-all-up-tough-on-crime-guys need to mave to Iran. They would really be happy there.

[Mithreal]

17. Extremely insensitive post after the image in previous post.

Your statement suggests that violent criminals should go free. If one cannot understand an emotional response to this story, then one may not be a humane being.

What is the punishment in the US for this sort of crime? Is it better?

[Pavulon]

19. Maybe he needs a hug. If that was your sister

or mother you would have something smarter to say. No Iran will handle the problem, my suggestion of life is much better than the response the attacker will get.

[Joe Chi Minh]

35. Why not?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

95. Heh. Ain't they pathetically predictable?

Same lame idiotic straw men, false dichotomies, appeals to emotion... always.

[babydollhead]

10. If it was my litttle dictatorship, I would pick something different.

When my kids were young, and they were mean or selfish to each other their punshment would be, "now you have to be with me, if I go upstairs you go upstairs, if I go into the kitchen to cook, you come in there. They would beg for me to release them to their siblings.

[leftchick]

24. why do the media never make a big deal out of our saudi friends?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/25/world/main626196.shtml

Saudi Arabia's Beheading Culture
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, June 25, 2004(AP) The Saudi government beheaded 52 men and one woman last year for crimes including murder, homosexuality, armed robbery and drug trafficking. But Saudis say that while Islam condones the punishment in one context, it condemns militants who decapitated hostages here and in Iraq.

Islam permits the death penalty for certain crimes, but few mainstream Muslim scholars and observers believe beheadings are sanctioned by Sharia, or Islamic law.

The Saudi government says the punishment is sanctioned by Islamic tradition. State-ordered beheadings are performed in courtyards outside crowded mosques in major cities after weekly Friday prayer services.

A condemned convict is brought into the courtyard, hands tied, and forced to bow before an executioner, who swings a huge sword amid cries from onlookers of "Allahu Akbar!" Arabic for "God is great."

On Friday, outside the main mosque in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, a policeman standing in the scorching summer heat declared to worshippers: "There are no qisas today." Qisas is the Arabic word for Islamic-law punishments — which in the kingdom could mean beheadings or the amputation of limbs.

But Saudi clerics insist beheading is only allowed in the case of criminal convictions — not in the killing of innocents.

"No religion condones these acts," Abdul Muhsen al Obaiqan, a senior Islamic cleric in Riyadh, told The Associated Press. "They are against Islam and they tarnish the image of Muslims. No Muslim should show any sympathy for them."

Last week, al Qaeda-linked militants in Saudi Arabia decapitated American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr. after warning they would kill him if the Saudi government did not release jailed comrades.

In Iraq this week, militants beheaded Kim Sun-il, a South Korean translator for a U.S. military supplier, and dumped his body between Baghdad and Fallujah. American businessman Nicholas Berg met a similar fate last month in Iraq. Both killings are blamed on the al Qaeda-linked movement of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The beheadings were videotaped, photographed and posted on the Internet — a new tactic apparently aimed at increasing the shock value of the militants' campaign against Westerners.

Al Qaeda is thought to be trying to drive out foreigners, depriving the kingdom of a vital work force and undermining the rule of the Saud royal family.

Beheading has been nearly unknown in previous Middle East violence. The militants may have been seeking to give an Islamic veneer to the slayings — or they may have been taking a page from Islamic militant groups elsewhere. Beheadings have occurred in Algeria, Kashmir, Chechnya and the Muslim-dominated southern Philippines.

[msongs]

25. another victory for the righteousness of religion eh? nt

[zelta gaisma]

41. Finally true justice under Islamic law !!

[IndianaGreen]

43. Those that live by Holy Books, shall die (or suffer) by Holy Books

For Germany, the criticism of religion has been essentially completed, and the criticism of religion is the prerequisite of all criticism.

The profane existence of error is compromised as soon as its heavenly oratio pro aris et focis “speech for the altars and hearths,” i.e., for God and country] has been refuted. Man, who has found only the reflection of himself in the fantastic reality of heaven, where he sought a superman, will no longer feel disposed to find the mere appearance of himself, the non-man , where he seeks and must seek his true reality.

The foundation of irreligious criticism is: Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man – state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

Karl Marx

Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (1844)

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm

[Judi Lynn]

44. Why the sudden focus on acid attacks?

Swanley road rage attack: Motorcyclist 'lucky not to be blinded'
3:42pm Monday 24th November 2008

By Michael Purton »

A MOTORCYCLIST says he is “lucky not to be blind” after a van driver threw an acidic liquid in his face.

Maurice Perry, of Oakfield Lane, Wilmington, was driving along Birchwood Road in Swanley at around 5.45pm last Wednesday (November 19) when a white van suddenly emerged from a side road.

It caused him to swerve and almost fall off his motorcycle, so when it stopped in the WJ King garage at the side of the road the 53-year-old knocked on the driver’s window to tell him what had happened.

When the window wound down, Mr Perry lifted the visor of his crash-helmet expecting to have a conversation - what he got was a face full of a liquid believed to be industrial bleach or battery acid.

More:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/3873507.Swanley_road_rage_attack__Motorcyclist__lucky_not_to_be_blinded_/

~~~~~~~~~~~

Nov 10, 2008 10:34 am US/Central
Suspect In Acid Attack Thought Victim Was With Ex

CHICAGO (STNG) ― A Cicero grandmother allegedly masterminded a disfiguring acid attack on a woman last July because she believed the woman was seeing her ex-husband, a prosecutor said in court Sunday.

Ofelia Garcia, 59, allegedly planned the assault by three youths, one of whom threw acid at Esperanza Medina, 48, said prosecutor Karen Sullivan.

The social worker suffered third-degree burns on 25 percent of her body; she had multiple skin grafts, and might lose sight in an eye, Sullivan said.

More:
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/acid.attack.caustic.2.860640.html

~~~~~~~~~~~

Afghan schoolgirls burned by acid in attack by men on motorcycle
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 | 10:30 PM ET
CBC News

Three Afghan girls in a group of eight walking to school in Kandahar City were seriously burned Wednesday when two men on a motorcycle threw acid on them.

Six of the eight were taken to hospital. Three were treated and released. Two girls who were wearing full-length burkas were not harmed.

Some of the girls wore a typical Afghan school uniform — black pants, a white shirt, black coat and white head scarf.

Athifa Bibi, 14, said from her hospital bed that two men rode up to the girls and threw the acid while they were walking to school. Bibi had burns on her face, which was covered in medical cream.

More:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/11/12/afghan-girls.html?ref=rss

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Another acid attack
14:01 Mon 24 Nov 2008 - Petar Kostadinov

Georgi Hadjiivanchev (52) from the central Bulgarian town of Gorna Oryahovitsa has become the latest victim of an acid attack, Bulgarian news website dnes.bg quoted Bulgarian National Radio on November 24 2008.

At about 8.30am Hadjiivanchev left home on his way to work when an unidentified assailant threw acid in his face. Hadjiivanchev managed to reach a nearby petrol station where he summoned help. He was admitted to Veliko Turnovo hospital with serious facial burns but his life was not said to be in any danger.

BNR said that he will be transferred to a hospital in Rousse. Police have launched an investigation into the case. According to dnes.bg, Hadjiivanchev owns several stores in Goran Oryahovitsa.

The attack on Hadjiivanchev comes exactly two weeks after 33-year-old Peta Staevska suffered serous burns to her face, hands and chest after she was splashed with acid in Sofia. She was ambushed in front of a building on Sofia's Bulgaria Boulevard where Staevska's furniture company Bogdan mebel has offices.

More:
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/another-acid-attack/id_33159/catid_66

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Another acid attack in Delhi, one injured
Nov 4th, 2008

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) A 20-year-old woman was injured Tuesday in an acid attack in Delhi. This is the third such incident in the area in the past one month and the police claim that it is the handiwork of a ‘maniac on the prowl’.

Amreem Siddiqi, a schoolteacher, suffered minor burn injuries as an unidentified man threw acid on her while she was leaving for school around 8:00 a.m. in Brahmnagri area in Osmanpur.

“The girl could not identify the man as he ran from the place immediately. She was taken to the hospital immediately,� Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) S.S. Yadav said.

More:
http://www.sindhtoday.net/south-asia/33451.htm

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Neighbour throws acid on 3-yr-old boy

Express News Service First Published : 11 Nov 2008 04:00:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 11 Nov 2008 11:01:15 AM ISTCHENNAI: A three-year-old boy had to bear the brunt of the showdown between his mother and his neighbour in Peerkankarnai area on Sunday.

N Nitish sustained burn injuries when his 63-year-old neighbour threw the acid used for cleaning bathrooms from the terrace of his house on him.

K Venugopal, a retired highways department employee, was miffed with Nitish’s mother Jailakshmi, a housewife, for allowing sewage water from her house to pass through his compound wall. They had verbal quarrels a couple of times earlier. Berated Venugopal decided to teach her a lesson in a ‘different’ way.

More:
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Neighbour+throws+acid+on+3-yr-old+boy&artid=mQtr1WP3nfo=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=&SectionName=rSY%7C6QYp3kQ=

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ETC.

[Joe Chi Minh]

47. Don't be nasty, Judy. You're making a mountain out of a molehill!

How about the poor perpetrators?

To me, like poisoners, they must have a particularly vicious and cowardly cast of mind. And like the incestuous beast of a father in the UK who raped his two daughters since the age of eight for, I think, for eighteen years, were it not that torturing him would twist our own than souls, I would prefer him to be tortured to death than receive any lesser form of punishment. But acid in an acid-throwers face? Neat, speedy ... and a certain pleasing symmetry.

[LeftishBrit]

70. We must never subscribe to torture.

'it would warp our own souls' - precisely. And our own societies and civilizations. I would like to live in a civilized society; and that means not torturing even truly bad people. As Gandhi said, 'an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind' - in this case, quite literally.

As for the man who raped his daughters, he should be kept in prison for the rest of his life; and anyone whose incompetence allowed his crimes to continue as long as they did, should be fired.

[cali]

75. what you're expressing is both profoundly sick and shortsighted.

Violence in the name of stopping violence is a self-defeating endeavor. State sanctioned torture is always wrong. This isn't justice, it's the sickest reflection of humanity.

Congratulations on endorsing such sick shit.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

100. Go live there. -nt

[pitohui]

65. acid is a cheap weapon for those who can't get/can't afford guns

acid can be cheap and easy to get, example lye, also i was told that in some areas it's known how to get the acid from old car batteries

there are apparently areas where it's easier to get acid than a gun, altho admittedly that doesn't explain your story from chicago, in that case the motive was to disfigure rather than kill, but it sounds like a pretty stupid plot since when you have that many people involved, you're GONNA get caught

obviously we can't have people walking around who are willing to throw acid on other people and blind them, any more than we can have people walking around gunning people down, it does need to be dealt with severely, altho i thought iran had a dealth penalty, why not just execute the creep and be done with it, blind the guy and now you have to feed the creep for the rest of his useless life

[Generator]

54. Does this mean they will start raping the rapists

Oh wait. That crime's only criminal is the woman. Oh the holy penis. :puke:

[Name removed]

56. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[truthisfreedom]

59. Alert sent.

[Zhade]

68. That's fucked up.

We still shouldn't attack them, though.

[LeftishBrit]

80. Of course we shouldn't attack them...

but neither should we emulate them, as a few people here seem to be suggesting.

There are many, many countries that practice violent and barbaric forms of punishment - not just Iran. Amnesty International's files contain plenty of horrific examples.

[ohio2007]

73. Iran confirms stoning sentence against adulteress: report

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's supreme court has confirmed a sentence of death by stoning against a woman convicted of adultery in the southern city of Shiraz, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The woman identified as Afsaneh R., was also given a second death sentence for murdering her husband with the help of a man identified only as Reza, who had an affair with her, Etemad Melli newspaper reported.

The report said the supreme court had in August confirmed verdicts first issued in April, but gave no reason for the delay in making the decision public.
snip
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j-IpCaRfRp0nHSoU9kDPWAkYxqeQ

I'm sure all this Iranian gay bashing,hangings,stonings,eye for an eye talk is trying to lead us into a June invasion.....

Let them work it out in their own way

[CTLawGuy]

74. eye for an eye was not meant to be taken literally

it means that the punishment should be proportional to the crime.

if one blinds another with acid, then society is worse off by one blind person. If it punishes the wrongdoer with being blinded, then it is worse off by two blind people. In enlightened countries, the wrongdoer is sent to jail in the hopes that in the long run his behavior can be corrected and returned to society as a law abiding member. In this way, society mitigates its loss.

[pitohui]

83. perhaps but the victim would not be satisfied in this particular case

if you were the victim of this crime, would you be happy to know that the person who blinded you and stole your hope of having any kind of life -- any career, any man who loved you (because you are also disfigured and sexual passion is based on the physical), even the ability to see who else dangerous might be walking up behind you -- would you want to know that this man is in prison, maybe being trained to a job, and that eventually he will be out to resume his life, with the full ability to work, to love and be loved, to see the sky? meanwhile you are forever a burden on your family, both a financial drain and a horror to the people who see you walking down the street?

i don't think torture is right, and i don't approve of blinding the guy, but i do think that either life without or the death penalty is appropriate

she will never be rehabilitated such that she can see the sky, why should he?

the punishment you suggest does not seem proportional to the harm done, it would actually have been better if he had just killed her, i wouldn't be willing to live her life and my only wish would be a quick death of my own -- so i can see why the victim requested this sentence

i can also see why we don't allow victims to choose the sentence in america, it's natural to want revenge for something this horrific

also, on another note, you say "society is worse off by two blind persons," actually, in the case of a person this dangerous, it would be better if he was blind, it would make it more difficult for him to offend again, in her society lost a teacher, in him society loses a violent criminal who flings acid -- you must see the difference

[CTLawGuy]

84. so we should jail for life or execute

any and every criminal? The criminal justice system is not about revenge, it's about correction and deterrence.

[wroberts189]

89. Thanks for a dose common sense.

This guy does a horrible thing... so then it should be done to him? That makes it two horrible things.

very simple logic ...why is it so hard to take the high road and just lock the sicko up?

[Unsane]

76. Can't say I feel sorry for the guy.

[crim son]

77. I like it.

Flame away.

[CTLawGuy]

85. if the victim weren't a woman

would you say the same thing?

[crim son]

87. I believe so, yes.

Why would the victim's gender matter? I mean, aside from the likely in this case, that the acid was used to destroy the woman's appearance because (I guess) appearance in woman is highly valued.

[CTLawGuy]

88. i think it would matter to a lot of people

violence against women is seen as worse than violence against men.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

96. Go live there. -nt

[Owl]

78. It works for me.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

98. Go live there. -nt

[Jack_DeLeon]

90. Good the fucker deserves it...

People who physically harm women over some perceived deserve to be hurt themselves.

[cali]

91. I guess you're looking forward to this kind of sick disgusting "justice"

here. And you must just loooove the U.S. torture policies under georgie. People who support this torture are distinctly shortsighted.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

99. Go live there. -nt

[IMPERIUM V]

92. Good book worth checking out for some of you guys:

[struggle4progress]

93. More detail from November links

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > WORLD
Iranian Man Sentenced by Court to be Blinded By Acid
Thursday, November 27, 2008
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian newspapers say a court has sentenced a man who blinded a woman with acid also to be blinded with acid under the country's Islamic law ... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,458349,00.html

Page last updated at 14:17 GMT, Friday, 28 November 2008
Court orders Iranian man blinded
A court in Iran has ruled that a man who blinded a woman with acid after she spurned his marriage proposals will also be blinded with acid ... The acid attack took place in 2004. The victim, Ameneh Bahrami, went to Spain for surgery to reconstruct her face but efforts to restore her sight failed ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7754756.stm

Acid In Eyes For Vengeful Lover
2:16pm UK, Friday November 28, 2008
Acid will be dripped into the eyes of an Iranian man after he blinded the woman who spurned his marriage proposals, reports claim ... The man, identified only as Majid, proposed several times but was spurned by the woman, known as Ameneh, the daily paper reported ... She travelled to Spain for surgery ... http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Iran-Acid-To-Be-Dripped-Into-Spurned-Mans-Eyes-For-Disfiguring-Woman/Article/200811415164231?f=rss

Iranian woman, Ameneh Bahrami blinded by jilted starker who threw acid her face.
Posted in December 15th, 2008
by Claudette Rothman in crime, world
Ameneh Bahrami met 27-year-old Majid in 2004 when they were both attending the same University in Iran. Shortly after meeting him, her mother started receiving marriage proposal from his mother ... This past November, Bahrami persuaded three judges to sentence Maji to be blinded with acid ... http://greenwichdiva.com/?p=1524

[treestar]

102. Like the death penalty, this is irrevocable

No human system of justice, even ours, can be 100% accurate. And I sure wouldn't trust Iran's system to be.