An Eye(s) for an Eye(s)?

I've got another one just like that:

Iraq did nothing to harm the United States. Punishment: Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, countless more lives destroyed.

Of course, the "justice is blind" story is much more horrifying.

Yeah, I have the same sort of feelings as Sven and M. Spector.  (Wow, there's a sentence you won't see often on babble...) :D

If I were this woman, I'd want to see that son of a fucker suffer too.  I'm having a hard time mustering up any sympathy for him whatsoever.  Especially since it's not very often that women see justice when violence is carried out against them.  (I had originally written "in Iran", but then realized that women here don't get much in the way of justice either when they're beaten or raped...)

But...I still believe it's wrong.  I don't believe that she is wrong - she is well within her rights to feel the way she does and to want this guy to suffer what she did. 

This is why I feel that victims should not be involved in prosecutions beyond being witnesses.  We all are outraged when something awful happens to us.  If someone killed my son, I'd want to strangle him with my bare hands.  But I know that it's wrong to allow me to carry that out, even though it's perfectly understandable for me to feel that way.

I don't blame her at all.  For once, a female victim of violence is able to work the system in her favour.  Even though I think it's wrong, I'll save my tears for other victims of the so-called "justice system" in Iran.

Funny, that type of violence against women, and worse, happens all the time in NA and other "western" countries to women, and I do not see see men here starting threads about it, and then discussing their cognative dissonance over it!

Do you realize how "othering" you are?

I don't know that the discussion is about the violence itself, so much as the potentially state-sanctioned punishment for it, and so far that's not on the books anywhere else.

On first read, it sounds barbaric.  But I think the most interesting thing to come out of the article(s) is the revelation that the usual penalty for blinding and disfiguring a woman for life (including potentially ensuring she never marries or has children) is to have to rustle up a few bucks for "payoff" money.

When the penalty for a crime this heinous is basically a fine, it sure does make it easier to endorse something that seems a bit more in keeping with the original offense, and barbaric or not, an eye for an eye at least seems fair and proportional. 

It would be interesting if the authorities offered him a choice between this, and life in a squalid prison cell.  Which would he choose?  I cannot help wondering if having to choose between two types of miserable might prompt an epiphany of remorse in this guy.     

Michelle wrote:

This is why I feel that victims should not be involved in prosecutions beyond being witnesses. We all are outraged when something awful happens to us. If someone killed my son, I'd want to strangle him with my bare hands. But I know that it's wrong to allow me to carry that out, even though it's perfectly understandable for me to feel that way.

Ditto. Especially when the perpetrator says things like this:

Quote:

Movahedi said that he still loved Bahrami but that if she asked for his eyes to be taken out, he would seek the same punishment for her.

Quote:

"They must also completely empty out her eyes, since I'm not sure that she cannot secretly see," he said. "The newspapers have made this a huge case, but I haven't done anything bad."

Was the choice only between "blood money" or qisas? I didn't see anything on what his jail sentence might be, just that he had been in jail since he confessed. If the blood money were in lieu of a jail sentence, then yes, I would guess I would make the same choice as she did. Otherwise, he's still running around, potentially still following her (and she is even more vulnerable now with the loss of her eyesight) or potentially throwing acid on other people.

The sentence is wrong.  Prison is more fitting, followed by an appropriation of anything of value that he might have, and half of any future income after release from prison, for the use of the victim.  Maybe toss in a public lashing for good measure, to reinforce the deterrent effect. 

Wait, I know:

1. Demolish his house (à la Israel, very civilized).

2. Rendition to Gitmo or Damascus.

3. Hang on - maybe the victim's family can do the torturing - bring him back!

4. When he's good and ready, send him to Texas for capital...

Whoa, wait, we're against the death penalty. Stop after point #3.

Now, can someone tell me what the purpose of this thread is? Someone's National Inquirer subscription ran out?

Unionist wrote:

It doesn't take much, though, for our civilized babblers, upon hearing of an atrocious crime far away, to start dreaming up punishments that they would never dare to suggest out loud in Canada.

Who is saying some punishments shouldn't be applied in Canada?  And besides, the sentence of life in prison for polyagamy coercion worked for you.

Unionist wrote:

Jas, my concern about this thread is simply the impression given that some foreign society is barbaric. If someone has a crime of this nature to report from Canada, where we have the ability and the duty to deal with it, and where it can shed light on ourselves rather than on those "less civilized" folk abroad, my attitude will be different. It doesn't take much, though, for our civilized babblers, upon hearing of an atrocious crime far away, to start dreaming up punishments that they would never dare to suggest out loud in Canada.

I think this sentence (which I doubt would be carried out in light of the publicity) should be viewed with some perspective. This problem of violence against women, be it acid throwing by a former lover or rape or physical assault, has been a bit on the rise lately in Iran. Typical deterrents haven't worked. A horrific punishment like this could be a deterrent in short term in a judicial system that otherwise has few tools to effectively deal with violence against women.

That's probably why when this news was posted on an Iranian Canadian forum where almost all members were western educated and secular, many of them Western born and most of them against death penalty, almost 90% thought the guy deserved it. Now it doesn't mean we support adding that to penal code, but that many of us have no moral problem with this particular case. I see many Babblers here agree with that point.